Today we have tidepool photos by Intellectual Hero Abby Thompson, a mathematician from UC Davis. Abby’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
More tidepool pictures from Dillon Beach, CA, plus a vegetable. As usual I got help with some of the IDs from people on inaturalist. First the vegetable:
This is Romanesco from our local farmers’ market, carefully selected as the most beautiful in the pile. It’s a fractal-ly vegetable; the large spiraling pattern repeats in the smaller spirals which repeat in the even smaller spirals which….. In a mathematical fractal this goes on ad infinitum, in a vegetable, not so much. I posted a similar picture outside my office door about 20 years ago and a computer scientist stopped by to ask me how I’d generated the image. He was disappointed it was an actual photograph of an actual vegetable.
On to the tidepools:
Hermissenda crassicornis (nudibranch) doing this interesting thing- using the surface tension of the water to “walk” upside down on the surface of the pool. For some reason they often do this as the tide is beginning to come back in:
An infant Kelp Crab (Pugettia sp.), through a microscope:
Dendronotus venustus (nudibranch). A fractal-ly nudibranch.:
Aeolidia loui (nudibranch) with its eggs, above the water line:
Aeolidia loui:
A baby Ochre Star (Pisaster ochraceus). This was about an inch across. The adults are the large (usually 6 inches or more), very common orange or purple stars. For some reason I see the adults (always) and the small babies (sometimes) and not anything in between:
Cuthonella cocoachroma (nudibranch). This picture doesn’t do it justice. They are quite small (about ½” long), and findable only because the white tips of the cerata (those things on its back) sparkle like gems when they catch the light:
Eudendrium californicum, a colonial hydroid. Each “flower” is an animal, and the orange blobs are part of the reproductive structure.:
Camera info: Mostly Olympus TG-7, in microscope mode, pictures taken from above the water.
Wonderful. If you did a photo/natural history book on these tide pools I bet it would be popular. I took a quick look on Amazon and there weren’t many. I imagine you are too busy for such a project. But still.
Splendid!
The more you look, the more you see patterns repeating in unexpected places – analogous to music, perhaps – counting without being aware of it (Leibniz) – so cool!
The tide pools are beautiful. Thank you as always Prof Thompson and a belated congratulations on your 2020 hero of intellectual freedom award. And I noticed in the ACTA article that Luana was a 2019 recipient.
Absolutely splendid, as usual. Thank you for adding something beautiful to otherwise depressing days!
+1 My feelings exactly.
Very nice. It only are Romanesco beautiful; they are also delicious!
And they exemplify the Fibonacci series.
Really wonderful shots. A lot of wet feet and wet pants, sand in socks etc.
Worth the effort for your grateful readers.
Cheers,
D.A.
NYC
As usual, one of the best reasons to come to WEIT. Thanks for all the nudi pictures! And all the other weird and wonderful tidepoolians too.
Wow! Beautiful pics.
Lovely! Thank you!
The TG-7 is a great camera for underwater photography. I bring mine whenever I go snorkelling.
Now that’s a beautiful vegetable! Nice Romanesco broccoli!