Of Friends and Slugs
...
We had company today at the tidepools! Mark and Katie joined us, as did Jen and Paul. It was a lot of fun, sharing this place with people who had never experienced it before.
Having a larger group meant more eyes for spotting interesting creatures. The image above isn't exactly "eyes" but it is the sensory organ of a nudibranch (sea slug). The animal was about five centimeters in length, so you can imagine how tiny these rhinophores (sense organs) are.
Katie found this colorful hermissenda crassicornis (that's Latin for "fancy-schmancy sea slug), which was about the size of my pinky nail. It is sliding along the side of the plastic bowl that I bring on tidepooling adventures. I suppose I ought to try to find something that looks a bit more natural, and less like it came from the dollar store.
We saw several spawning anemones today, which is something I'd never noticed before. Sometimes these animals reproduce asexually (by splitting themselves into pieces) and sometimes, like this, they release their eggs or sperm into the vast ocean. Seems like a lonely existence, either way.
(Sorry is this isn't a particularly chatty blog post. I got up way too early, and got a bit too much sun on the drive home from the beach. I'm not feeling very energetic at the moment. Sorry, too for the lack of photos of humans. Those are on Robb's camera, which I haven't uploaded to the computer, yet.)
We had company today at the tidepools! Mark and Katie joined us, as did Jen and Paul. It was a lot of fun, sharing this place with people who had never experienced it before.
Having a larger group meant more eyes for spotting interesting creatures. The image above isn't exactly "eyes" but it is the sensory organ of a nudibranch (sea slug). The animal was about five centimeters in length, so you can imagine how tiny these rhinophores (sense organs) are.
Katie found this colorful hermissenda crassicornis (that's Latin for "fancy-schmancy sea slug), which was about the size of my pinky nail. It is sliding along the side of the plastic bowl that I bring on tidepooling adventures. I suppose I ought to try to find something that looks a bit more natural, and less like it came from the dollar store.
We saw several spawning anemones today, which is something I'd never noticed before. Sometimes these animals reproduce asexually (by splitting themselves into pieces) and sometimes, like this, they release their eggs or sperm into the vast ocean. Seems like a lonely existence, either way.
(Sorry is this isn't a particularly chatty blog post. I got up way too early, and got a bit too much sun on the drive home from the beach. I'm not feeling very energetic at the moment. Sorry, too for the lack of photos of humans. Those are on Robb's camera, which I haven't uploaded to the computer, yet.)
Comments
Zoemomma
I was there, and I am STILL amazed at the amazing photography... when Katie found that snazzy little sea slug, I could barely tell it was a creature and not a fleck of sea-detritus on a seaweed leaf, it was soooo small. And yet, WOW!!! What an amazing looking little critter!
We had SUCH a woderful time today, than you Robb and Lisa for sharing your adventure with us! I can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful California Saturday!!!
-wassamatta_u and katie
-D
Bandaid