Creatures of the Tide Pool

I took all of these picture in tide pools along the beautiful rocky coasts of the Northwest, either in Oregon in Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area or Seal Rock State Park, or in California in Redwood National Park. I don’t know much about the identification of these creatures, so I’ve used common names for them instead of their specific species name.

Giant Green Anemone

When the tide is out and they are exposed to the air, sea anemones appear as an unattractive lump of mush and pebbles. When the tide is in and they are submerged once more, the anemone opens up and extends its beautiful tentacles. Beautiful but deadly to the little creatures that get trapped by them.

Keep Your Friends Close, Your Anemones Even Closer

When researching my trip to Redwood National and State Parks, I expected to find redwoods (because I'm just that clever!) but I was surprised to see that the park included coastal areas as well. On the last morning of my trip, I visited the tide pools before starting up the coast towards my home in Oregon.

There are a couple of species of sea anemones in the tide pools of the Northwest, this is a giant green anemone. I'm a little disappointed in the name, while they are a lot larger than aggregating anemones, any creature you see in the ocean with a name that starts with "giant green" ought to be a huge monstrosity that emerges from the depths to wreak havoc and destruction along the coast.

Open Arms

Like a flower opening its petals to greet the sun, this anemone had its tentacles unfurled at sunrise, but to greet not the sun but the ocean. There is a chiton to the upper left of the anemone that I hadn't noticed until I got home and looked at the pictures.

A giant green anemone and an aggregating anemone in a tide pool at Redwood National Park in California

Two if by Sea Anemone

There are two species of anemones commonly found in the tide pools of the Northwest. One is the giant green anemone that dominates the center of the frame. Up to the left, just below the ochre sea star, is a small pink anemone known as an aggregrating anemone. While this one is off on its own, they are so named because they can aggregrate in large groups of cloned individuals.

Giant green anemones in a tide pool at Redwood National Park in California

Barnacles

Captain, There Be Whales Here!

This patch of barnacles reminded me of a group of whales breaching the surface. There are real whales just offshore in the Pacific, but these mini-whales live their lives in the tide pools of Redwood National Park.

Hermit Crab

Neighbors

Tidepools provide a glimpse into the lives of some exotic creatures, all packed into a very tight space. Here, a hermit crab walks along an empty mussel shell towards a sea anemone, with a sea urchin buried underneath the shells.

Crabs

I’m not sure what type of crab this is that the gull has captured, but I thought it provided a nice example of how life in the tide pool doesn’t always stay in the tide pool.

A western gull grabs a crab from a tide pool at Yaquina Head

Opportunity

As the tide comes in and fills the tide pools with water, the little ecosystems come alive as animals come out to feed. Sometimes the larger world intrudes, however, and an opportunity for a crab to feed is also an opportunity for a gull to swoop in and snare a quick meal.

Mussels

Not Much Elbow Room

It’s a good thing mussels don’t need much personal space, as they spend their lives in a dense pack attached to a large rock, such as this group exposed by low tide at Seal Rock State Park. Seal Rock is my second favorite spot on the Oregon coast, my favorite is Yaquina Head but the tide pools at each park have a different feel to them.

A western gull holds a mussel in its beak on an agate beach at Yaquina Head on the Oregon coast

Tool User

Birds have evolved different strategies to solve the same problem. Oystercatchers have a long thin bill dedicated to cracking open shellfish and extracting the flesh inside. Gulls have a varied diet (to put it mildly) and so have more general purpose bills. That didn't deter this gull, however, from trying for a mussel meal. It would hold the shell in its mouth, fly up high, then drop the mussel onto the agate beach to get the shell to crack open. Mussels must have a pretty tough shell as the gull never managed to crack it despite several attempts.

Sea Stars (Starfish)

These are known as both starfish and sea stars, I grew up calling them starfish.

Ochre Sea Star

	Is the Tidepool Half Full or Half Empty? The answer to the age old question depends not on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist, but on how fast you can move with the changing water levels. If you’re a starfish, it’s half empty.
	Framed I found this ochre sea star in a tide pool at Yaquina Head and liked the way the dark seaweed framed the orange star.
	Brothers in Arms The receding tide left these two ochre sea stars high and dry above the tide pool, arm in arm, their forbidden starfish love exposed. As you can see, the color of ochre sea stars can vary and includes various shades of red, orange, and purple.

An ochre star fish on a rock at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area in Newport, Oregon

Legs Crossed, Holding Tightly

Pity the starfish that does not take advantage of the cover of high tide to relieve itself. This poor fellow clinging to a large boulder was left high-and-dry by the receding tide and could do naught but cross its legs and hold it in. Waiting for the inevitable return of the sea but tortured always by the sound of splashing water …

Sunflower Sea Star

Sea Stars From the Stars

I was pretty excited on this morning, it's not every day that I get to discover alien life right here on our own planet! As soon as I saw this sea star, it was so much larger than the other stars, with so many more legs, that I knew it was from out of this world.

I set my tripod into the soft sand but I could hear a voice in my head telling me not to take the picture. I picked up my tripod and began to walk away before I rejected the star's mind control and reset the tripod onto the wet beach. Sadly, when I got back home from my trip to Redwood National Park, I discovered that this is not a newly discovered star from the stars, but rather an already discovered terrestrial variety with latent Jedi powers.

Like the ochre sea star, the sunflower sea star also comes in shades of red, orange, and the purple seen here. With a few of the legs upturned, you can see the tube feet that let the stars grip the rocks on the beach, move about the tide pool, and grip their prey. At the time I thought it was sitting still, but looking at the pictures when I got home I could see it was slowly moving its legs.

I'm lucky I escaped with my life.

Sea Urchin

Urchincy

A group of sea urchins in a tide pool at Yaquina Head. The urchins are hunkered down in circular depressions in the rock, little homes they slowly carve out over time to keep them from being blown about by the tides. There’s not much they can do about the little pieces of driftwood that get blown on top of them though. Most urchins in Oregon’s tide pools are purple, but every once in a while you’ll find one of the rare red ones.

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