|
Keep Your Friends Close, Your Anemones Even Closer
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.
|
|
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.
|
I grew up calling these starfish, but I believe sea star is the more proper term.
|
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 orange starfish in a tidepool and liked the way the dark seaweed framed the orange star.
|
|
Urchincy
A grouop of urchins are hunkered down in circular depressions in the rock of this tidepool, 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 tidepools are purple, but every once in a while you'll find one of the rare red ones.
|