Beach Creatures – Part Deux

Hopefully, this will not sound like a natural science lecture. But, I find the wildlife here at the beach to be a never-ending source of interest.

While not as numerous as our avian friends here at the beach, there are plenty of terrestrial and aquatic creatures that keep life interesting. We have rabbits, a ferret, moles, rats, deer, raccoons, mice, and feral cats on the land side and river otters which are neither land nor water creatures exclusively.

On the water side, there are several clam varieties, mussels, moon snails, worms, mud shrimp, limpets, whelks, chitons, barnacles galore, anemones, spiny sea urchins, starfish, tiny sand and hermit crabs, and the occasional nudibranch (colorful, small hairy sea slug) in the intertidal zone. This area of the beach also supports large colonies of a variety of brown, green and nearly black seaweeds, large kelp and sea/eel grass which serves as an incubator for salmon fry and small species that are food for larger fish. Some varieties of seaweed are gathered by residents for making specialty foods. The seaweeds firmly attach themselves anywhere to the rocks. The larger varieties like the giant kelp spread roots around smaller rocks much like a grasping hand which is known as a “holdfast”.

Our tide varies from a minus 3.5 feet or lower to a plus 13.5 ft or higher over the course of a year. Of course, there are two high and two low tides each day, generally occurring within that range. Since the beach has a shallow slope to deeper water, the tidal range creates a large intertidal zone which is uncovered twice a day and which accommodates these species. With the lowest tides, a person is able to walk several hundred yards out from the beach without encountering the bottom dropoff and water any more than waist deep. The beach denizens generally orient themselves in bands running parallel to the shoreline, seeming to prefer certain shallow water depths and/or temperatures for their “homes”. Further out in open water, there are several salmon varieties, sea-run cutthroat trout, skates, bullheads (sculpin), several varieties of crabs, perch, small flounder-like flatfish, dogfish (small sharks), sea lions, dolphins, whales – both grey and orca, and many other species that we never get to see. However, during the several extra-low tides in the summer of each year, an occasional unfortunate small open-water individual will get trapped in a tide pool and have to wait until the tide returns to swim free. On one occasion, a large perch was trapped in a derelict crab pot on our beach and had to be set free.

The two most prevalent species in the intertidal zone are the clams and mussels, both generally good to eat. The clams live just below the surface of the beach and extend a neck up to the mud surface to feed. . Digging them out for making fried clams or chowder requires a bit of effort. They are detectable by a small dimple in the mud around the neck or, more easily, when disturbed and they squirt a jet of water several feet into the air when the tide withdraws. A nearby footstep is enough to trigger their squirt and, sometimes when directly underfoot, it goes right up a pantleg! With the tide out, on a sunny day we are treated to a “dancing waters” display of clams randomly squirting, unprovoked except by their own exuberance. When digging clams, it’s not unusual to also find thousand-legged sand worms up to a foot long and small mudshrimp that are not good to eat.

Mussels are mostly black or deep blue colored with an occasional brown shell. They locate on the beach surface and attach themselves tenaciously to rocks in colonies by threadlike “beards”. Looking across an expanse of beach it can appear black because there are so many. The density of the colonies, however, varies widely from year to year since winter storms can transport large amounts of sand to the beach which covers them the following season and they must generate new colonies. When picked, their beards must be removed before steaming, but they reward the pallet in numerous recipes.

Moon snails are somewhat of an oddity. They are fist-sized snails and are eaten by some folks. Their eggs cases are large, a six to ten inch diameter sheet of grey sandy material with a foam plastic appearance and a collared opening in the center. These egg cases are found scattered around the beach in their spawning season.

Other intertidal species like limpets, chitons, and barnacles attach themselves either by suction or by a very effective adhesive to the rocks typically high on the beach and remain static. Limpets are small, Chinese-hat shaped creatures considered a delicacy in Japan. Chitons are flat creatures up to a few inches in length with a segmented, armored shell similar in appearance to an armadillo.

Barnacles are the ubiquitous denizens of the salt water environment. They adhesively attach themselves to anything that moves (or that doesn’t) whether it is boat hulls, rocks, crabs, fish, whales and even seaweed. They tend to gather in large colonies, often on rocks, high up on the beach. Their sizes vary from miniscule to an inch or more in diameter. When viewed underwater, they will open and extend delicate tentacles like the pistils in a flower in order to feed.

Some of the most desirable open water creatures are the crabs, succulent Dungeness and rock crab varieties. There are spider crabs as well but, while interesting to see, these are not edible. Like game fish, crab trapping is carefully regulated to assure the sustainability of the species. Only male crabs of edible size may be kept and the trapping season this year runs weekends only for the two months of July and August. Our cove seems to be a hot spot for crabbing. At times there may be 8-10 pots or more showing, all placed near the bottom dropoff several hundred yards out from the beach. During the commercial crabbing season, 30 or more pots are out front in the same general area and the attending boats are equipped with hoists to help in pulling the pots. The seagulls are wise to the commercial crabbers. When the pot is pulled, female and undersized crabs are hand sorted out and thrown back in the water. The gulls swarm around the boats when that happens and attempt to grab a rejected crab before it sinks.

Other types of crabs are plentiful on the beach. These are small sand crabs and hermit crabs. The sand crabs are only a quarter-inch to an inch across and hide in small puddles under the rocks on the beach. Turning over any rock may reveal 10-20 in a colony and, when exposed, they make their sideways run to hide again under an adjacent rock. The hermit crabs are curious small soft creatures. They appropriate an empty whelk or moon snail shell and move in. If disturbed, they withdraw into the shell closing the opening with a large claw. Hermit crabs move along the bottom with several legs that poke out of the shell opening along with the claw. As they grow, they will discard their shell and find a larger one.

Starfish frequent the beach and tend to be found in shallow water. Up to about10-12 inches across, they occur in a rainbow of colors from grey to brown to shades of red, purple, orange and green. Typically with five arms or webbed arm-like lobes, they move about slowly. Even though the arms are covered with a hard coarse covering, they are flexible. The bottom of each arm is covered with hundreds of tiny tube-like “feet” that are actually suction cups. They will wrap their arms around an unlucky clam and, using their suction attachment to the clam’s shell, will apply a steady pull to open the clam. When the clam tires and opens, the starfish will extend its stomach through its mouth into the clam and proceed to digest it in-situ so to speak. Several times there has been a seagull sitting on the bulkhead with several arms of a small starfish protruding from its beak. The starfish had apparently used its suction feet to attach to the inside of the gull’s mouth. One other variety of starfish can be found here and that’s the sun star or sunflower star. This variety is a foot or more in diameter, orange in color and has 20 short arms arrayed around it’s perimeter like a fringe.

In the summertime we are often visited by pancake-shaped moon jellyfish that may be a foot or more in diameter and range in color from clear to shades of brown/orange. Often at low tide one can be found stranded on the dry beach. Their name is no misnomer since they appear to be made of firm transparent gelatin with some colored interior organ patterns.

Larger gamefish like salmon do not normally come close in to the shallower beach water. Fishing for them requires trolling from a boat. From time to time, often in the evenings, salmon and other fish can be seen jumping out of the water, sometimes as high as their own body length or more. They are either feeding on smaller fish or are being chased by a sea lion. The sea lions swim just under the surface of the water with only the crown of their head , eyes and nostrils showing above water. Several summers ago, one fat sea lion spent several months in the daytime sprawled on a large rock on the beach. He would orient himself to expose his belly to the direct sun with his flippers splayed out as if ready to embrace the sun. He was apparently a visitor from Southern California!

When the whales come by it’s an event, especially if they’re orcas. The grey’s that come by are largely loners. They lumber past with their backs undulating above and below the water surface, occasionally flipping their tail, and, periodically, noisily blowing a great spray of mist (and probably bad breath) from the blowhole at the back of their head. There is an area several miles south of our cove where the grey’s go to feed. The bottom there is comprised mostly of a mix of mud and sand with very few rocks. When the tide goes out, a number of long shallow troughs are visible where the grey’s have scooped up a large amount of the bottom and water. They then spit it back out through their broom-like baleen which filters out shrimp, worms and other edible creatures (and probably some that are not edible!).

 Three or four years ago an entire pod of orcas paraded by, enormous dorsal fins erect. They were grouped in what I assume were families of about 2 to 5 and totaled 60 or more in number. As they were spread out a bit, it took a half hour or so for the first and last to pass, an incredible sight. Whenever the whales are present, island residents turn out in droves and line the bluffs to watch. Several years ago, a pod of Dall’s porpoise came by. These are colored black and white, much like the orcas, but noticeably smaller and with a short dorsal fin.

Other open-water species in the neighborhood include sea-run cutthroat trout, skates, bullheads, small flounder and dogfish which are small, 2-5 ft long sharks. The cutthroats are a great fighting sport fish. The bullheads that the kids delight in catching from the bulkhead are small, ugly, spiny fish with a very large mouth. They are mostly a bottom dweller. On one occasion, two small skates with a wingspread of about three feet were trapped in a tide pool in the cove as one of the years very low tides withdrew. They ultimately escaped when the tide returned.

More about our land-side species including otter escapades in another blog and then, perhaps, on to other subjects.