Anemone:Any of numerous flowerlike marine coelenterates of the class Anthozoa, having a flexible cylindrical body and tentacles surrounding a central mouth.
These little buggers are everywhere when the tide goes out. They are supposed to sting, but I have never had that experience when I touch them.
If anyone has any idea what this is. Give a comment. We are looking but have not found anything yet.
Starfish
These guys are very prevalent on the rocks when the tide goes out. The first time I found one, I picked it off the rock and thought it was dead. Turns out... it wasn't, it was very lethargic and stiff, but upon leaving it alone for a moment, it tried to right itself using its thousands of tiny legs.
Ochre Sea Stars (orange & purple phases) Pisaster ochraceus
Scientific name: Pisaster ochraceus; ochraceus: comes from the Greek word ochros – meaning pale yellow
Other Names: Purple Star, Common Sea Star
Phylogeny: Echinoderm ! Class: Asteroidea ! Order: Forcipulatida ! Family Asteriidae
Size: 6- 14 inches across.
Description: Three color phases are seen: purple, brown and orange. P. ochraceus usually has five stout arms, called rays. Rarely, the ochre sea star has 4-7 arms.
Habitat: Found in the mid to low intertidal zones along exposed and protected rocky shores.
Diet: The ochre star feeds on mussels, abalones, chitons, barnacles, snails and urchins.
Life Span: These sea stars are known to live up to 20 or more years.
Fun Facts:
✰ Like many sea stars, the ochre can re-grow a lost arm, which often takes upwards of a year.
✰ Pisaster ochraceus is considered a ‘keystoneÂ’ predator. A keystone predator is an organism that has a greater affect on the community than their abundance would suggest.
✰ To eat its prey, the ochre sea star uses suckers on its tube feet to pull apart the shells of mussels and hold onto moving prey. It then pushes its stomach out and into the prey, digesting it outside of its body! This is a process that can take up to two or three days to complete.
✰ Specialized tube feet with pinchers at the end, called pedicellariae, are used to keep other animals from settling on the top side – called the ‘aboralÂ’ surface - of the sea star.
Leaf Barnacles:
Scientific Name: Pollicipes polymerus
Leaf barnacles used to be called "goose barnacles" because in the 16th century, people claimed these barnacles turned into geese! To this day, some people still insist on calling them goose barnacles.
Bird on ROCK.
Calvinus Exploretoreus:
Onespecimenecimin!
3 comments:
these pics are gorgeous...looks like a fun day! wish i could be there to hang out...:)
How fun to read about your day! And what a fun time for you and Calvin! At first I thought you had picked up the photos off the web as well as the info, but then I realized they were your shots --- nicely done, Shutterbug!
all of the boys were there...they were off climbing rocks and being much more adventurous than I was! Christian was actually doing research, he made his first power point presentation for school! All about sea stars.
steph
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