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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Within 10 Feet

Today I decided to try and find as many species of all types that I could within 10 feet in any direction of the houseboat. I surveyed the area about once an hour between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM, took some photos, discovered you can use binoculars quite well to look at deeper intertidal life, and spent some time with a stack of field guides. In total, I came up with about 40 species - here's how they broke down:

Birds
Glaucous-winged gull
Belted kingfisher
Rock pigeon
Pine siskin
Dark-eyed junco

Rock pigeon

Flowering plants
Licorice fern
Two unidentified tiny, weedy species

Licorice fern

Seaweeds
Bull kelp
Rockweed
Eelgrass
Sea cabbage
Seersucker kelp
At least one other type of kelp-like seaweed
At least one type of sea lettuce (Ulva spp.)
At least one type of brown tuft seaweed 
At least one type of filamentous red seaweed (of which there are about 60 local species that can only be distinguished microscopically)

Amazingly this shot shows almost all the different types of seaweed at once
Mosses 
Five species, including probably:
Juniper moss
Red bryum

Moss species

Lichens
At least four species, including potentially:
Xantharia sp.
Hypogymnia sp.

Lichen species


Arachnids
One type of orb spider


Invertebrates
Blue mussel
Acorn barnacle
California sea cucumber
Orange sea cucumber
Giant plumose anemone
Giant green anemone
Red-trumpet calcareous tubeworm
Ochre star
Monterey sea lemon (a type of nudibranch)
Graceful decorator crab
Kelp crab - perhaps Pugettia gracilis
Giant rock scallop
One shrimp species
One unknown crab-like species (see photo)

Giant plumose anemone



California sea cucumber

Two kelp crabs, possibly graceful kelp crabs (Pugettia gracilis)

The coolest find of the day, a small species with a big name that I hadn't noticed before - red-trumpet calcareous tubeworm

Another red-trumpet calcareous tubeworm - they ranged in color from all white to all red or any level of mixed banding between the two colors

The unknown crab-like species, about the size of a thumb nail. Any ideas??
And a last minute addition!

Mammals
Mink

4 comments:

Vera said...

What a fun project and some super photos. I am especially amazed by the kelp one. So many in just one spot!?

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

Brilliant colours - brilliant concept - brilliant blog

Cheers

DaveyMan

jill said...

Wonderful, love appreciating what's happening right in front of us.

Silly Little Sheep said...

Wonderful!! I wish I had a chance to study marine biology one day!!