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Rockweed, Fucus gardneri
Rockweed, Fucus gardneri In previous posts, Eelgrass in the Wrack and Turkish Towel, I’ve written about plants and marine algae that commonly wash up on sandy beaches, even though they live elsewhere....
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California Beach Hopper, Megalorchestia californiana
Trail to the beach, 5:30 am. I took this photo on my way to the beach at 5:30 am on June 22, 2013. Low tide would occur about 30 minutes later, at 6:06 am. The tide forecast was -2.3′ below mean...
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Black Leather Chiton, Katharina tunicata
Black leather chiton, Katherina tunicata Here is a nice view of a black leather chiton, Katharina tunicata, on an encrusted boulder way out in the infralittoral fringe. Besides the main attraction,...
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Sea Lettuce, Ulva
Ulva is frequently observed in the fresh wrack on sandy beaches. Surf zone sands provide no place for attachment, so Ulva, like other marine plants and and seaweeds, makes it home in the rocky...
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Flat-tip Piddock, Penitella penita
Flat-tip piddock, Penitella penita A few days ago on the TOS facebook page I posted the photo above, along with this challenge: “Here’s a shell you don’t see on just any sandy beach. Any guesses about...
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TOS Word Clouds
I don’t know what to make of word clouds. By fall of 2012 I had made about 20 theoutershores posts and I was getting curious about the words I was putting on paper and their frequency in my posts....
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Below the Surface with the Walleye Surfperch
Most of the time, my only contact with walleye surfperch is on the business end of a fishing line. Almost everything I know of them has come from books and scientific literature, or hands-on...
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Barnacles On Top of Barnacles
Thatched barnacles, Semibalanus cariosus, and goose barnacles, Pollicipes polymerus. There are a lot of impacts in the exposed surf zone and barnacles are always breaking away from their rocky homes...
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Favorite TOS Posts and Photos, 2013
2013 was theoutershores’ first full year in business. There were 32 new posts and 387 pictures uploaded. I thought it might be fun to review the most popular posts and share my favorite photographs....
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They Don’t Call ‘em Surfperch for Nothing
On November 23 I posted this image on the TOS Facebook Page with the words, ”Chilly morning on theoutershores. Will the fish bite on these?” I had an interest in catching a few surfperch, but it...
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Comparing King Tides
King tide is a nickname for the highest spring tides of the year and an important milestone for many people with ties to ocean shores. I gave a little bit of information about it just over a year ago...
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Answering the Clam Challenge: Which Shells for Which Beaches?
Unidentified clam, any guesses? Last May I posted this photo and caption on Wrack Line 2013. I hoped the caption might lead to the identification of this interestingly colored ribbed shell. No such...
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Sampling Surfperch on the Incoming Tide
I’m always getting asked how several species of closely related small silvery surfperch can share sandy beaches without tripping over each other. How do they partition the surf zone? Do they eat...
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Field Guides
A few of my favorite field guides I’m always thinking about the intertidal, so field guides and reference books pertaining to the seashore are a big part of my life. On February 13, I posted this...
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Red-eyed medusa, Polyorchis penicillatus
Frame of reference is everything. From the perspective of sampling surf zone fishes, jellyfish in the surf tend to be an irritant. They foul lines, and in large numbers, they make sampling impossible....
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Surfperches Share Sandy Shores
Below are images of sandy beaches more or less occupied by the surfperches, Amphistichus rhodoterus and Hyperproson ellipticum, year around. All of the photos were taken at low tide and the views are...
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Oceanic Predator Washes onto the Beach
If you follow theoutershores at all, you know I’m always thinking about things that wash up on the beaches. What follows is a description of an uncommon beach discovery – to be sure, it’s a new one on...
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Idotea, an Intertidal Isopod
May 15 saw a pretty good low tide on theoutershores, about 2 feet below mean lower low water, so I was able to explore some surf-swept rocks that jut out of the sand. These islands in the sand are...
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Oceanic Crab Makes Landfall
Miles of monotonous sand. When I’m not concentrating on surf zone fishes and their prey, or the riches of the rocky intertidal, I’m walking the wrack line. If you look at Wrack Line 2014 or any of my...
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Aggregating Anemones Handle the Sand
It’s just a narrow strip of low lying rocks. It barely sticks out of the sand – takes a pounding from the surf and periodically gets buried by building sands. I have walked past these rocks for years...
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