Today we have some intertidal photos taken in California by UC Davis math professor Abby Thompson. Abby’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge her photos by clicking on them.
May is a great month on the California coast, with extreme high and low tides. Here are some photos from the most recent, excellent, set:
Pollicipes polymerus (Gooseneck barnacles). I’ve shown these, and some relatives, several times before, but they’re amazing animals. In case you think it’s too many barnacles, Darwin spent eight years looking at barnacles. “Originally planning a brief month-long study to establish his credentials in invertebrate zoology, he became deeply immersed and cataloged every known living and fossil species.” (Google AI). I’m not sure what the green is doing here, presumably just growing on top of the animals. Some relatives of the nudibranchs stay green from what they eat, and retain bits with the ability to photosynthesize, most famously the adorable leaf sheep:.
Dendronotus venustus (nudibranch):
Paciocinebrina lurida (a snail):
Tonicella lokii (flame-lined chiton):
Genus Tegula (maybe) (another snail). There was a hermit crab living in the shell- I didn’t get a good photo of him. I’m not sure the genus is correct, but the shell was so pretty I wanted to post it:
Nucella ostrina (Northern striped dogwinkle). About the common name—well, it has stripes. And it’s a “winkle” (a word you have to love), or “little whelk”. The dog part, I dunno. They’re very common, and voracious. Some species of Nucella (not sure about this one) can be used to make a deep purple dye, which used to be hard to come by. There’s a fun account of making the dye here, although I’m afraid many snails must have been sacrificed in the process:
Paradialychone ecaudata (worm):
Limpet, probably Lottia pelta (shield limpet). The little lacy edge is tentacles: “Pallial tentacles are tiny, sensory structures lining the mantle margin (pallium) of limpets. . . The tips and shafts of these tentacles are covered in dense tufts of non-motile cilia, which act as sensory receptors.” (Google AI):
Seagulls at sunset:
As always, thanks to experts on inaturalist for help with some IDs. Camera is an Olympus TG-7.
Great pics, thanks! I keep saying I’m going to try to take macro pics, but never get around to it. And I understand that the camera you’re using is quite good for macros. I might need to try it.