View allAll Photos Tagged Tidepool
Swimming with the sea turtles in Kohala was pretty awesome, but the best underwater scenery was at the Kapoha tide pools in the Puna area south of Hilo.
Lime Kiln Point State Park, San Juan Island, WA.
© 2018 Andrew A Reding. Comments (including corrections) invited. Photographed RAW, so customizable. Photos are reduced; check my profile page for information on use of full-size originals.
Low tide at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve on the shoreline at Moss Beach, one of the best tidepool habitats in northern California. Low tides uncover a magical world of sea creatures....animals that look like flowers or plump round pincushions; crabs that carry snail shells on their backs; starfish and oddly shaped sea shells. The rocky intertidal zone....that portion of beach between high and low tide....is a difficult place to live yet the array of animals and vegetation that thrive here is abundant and varied.
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Holothuroideaia
Order: Aspidochirotida
Family: Stichopodidae
Genus/species: Parastichopus parvimensis
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Colored brown above, lighter below. Conical black-tipped papillae on the dorsal side provide the common name. The mouth and anus are on opposite ends of their cylindrical bodies. Tube feet aide in gathering food as well as ambulating.Length to 25 cm (10 inches).
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Monterey Bay, California to Baja California. Found on sandy or muddy-sandy soft bottoms between rocks or in eelgrass beds. Sub tidal to 27 m (89 feet) in depth.
DIET: Digests organic detritus and small organisms in soft sediments.
REPRODUCTION?DEVELOPMENT: Have separate sexes (look alike), and eggs are fertilized externally. Broadcast spawning usually takes place in November, and each female can produce thousands of eggs. After fertilization, a larva is formed which metamorphoses into a Sea Cucumber after a few weeks.
MORTALITY/LONGEVITY: Eaten by sea stars including the sunflower star. Sea otters and humans are also predators. Lifespan estimated to be 5-10 years in the wild.
CONSERVATION: IUCN Red list; Not Evaluated
REMARKS: Holothuroids differ from echinoderms, because they have a water vascular system full of body fluid rather than sea water. Like other echinoderms, cucumbers have a calcareous skeleton; but in their case it is only vestigial, composed of plates and spicules of lime buried in the skin and serving merely to stiffen the body wall. Respiratory trees are the lungs of a sea cucumber. These hollow branched organs lie inside the body cavity on either side of the posterior intestine. The base of the tree connects to a muscular cavity, or cloaca. Oxygen is transferred across the thin membrane into the fluids of the body cavity. When the oxygen is depleted, the main body wall contracts to squeeze water out of the trees.
When threatened, it can expel all its internal organs through its anus (evisceration) and grow new ones in 2-4 weeks. It can also expel sticky filaments to ensnare or confuse predators. Warty sea cucumbers and their related species are sometimes called the “earthworms of the sea,” as they cultivate the seafloor in much the same manner as earthworms cultivate the soil. Oral tube feet around the mouth are covered with a sticky mucus that traps food particles from the seafloor's sediment and mud. In areas where overfishing has reduced the population of sea cucumbers, the seafloor hardens, thus destroying a habitat for other bottom-dwelling creatures. Can walk on tube feet if stressed up to one yard every 15 min..
Humans eat a variety of sea cucumber species, including Warty sea cucumbers. The demand is greatest in Asian countries, for consumption and folk medicine applications. It is considered to be widely overfished.
References
California Academy of Sciences Docent Tide pool training 2015
ADW Animal Diversity Web, U. of Michigan
animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Parastichopus_par...
Encyclopedia of Life eol.org/pages/597920/details
Monterey Bay Aquarium www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/invertebrates/wa...
Ron's Wordpress Shortlink wp.me/p1DZ4b-s6
Ron's flickr www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/3702926813/in/album-721...
Tidepool
8-9-12, 10-16-14, 12-7-15
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
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I am most pleased to have a small section in the cabinet of curiosities at the Exploratorium's Tinkering Studio. There on display are various bits and pieces of my 2003 VLCKR (very low coast KAP rig) cradle designed during a sabbatical spent as Artist-in-Residence at the museum. To complement the cradle artifacts I assembled a set of images to run on an iPad in the display as a continuous slide show.
Here they are. Many predate my Flickr days while others appear elsewhere in my Flickr photostream.
One of my first experiments using resin with polymer clay. I made this piece using a faux basse taille technique and then filled the cells with resin after the polymer was antiqued and cured.
For more on my process, visit my blog:
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Holothuroideaia
Order: Aspidochirotida
Family: Stichopodidae
Genus/species: Parastichopus parvimensis
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Colored brown above, lighter below. Conical black-tipped papillae on the dorsal side provide the common name. The mouth and anus are on opposite ends of their cylindrical bodies. Tube feet aide in gathering food as well as ambulating.Length to 25 cm (10 inches).
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Monterey Bay, California to Baja California. Found on sandy or muddy-sandy soft bottoms between rocks or in eelgrass beds. Sub tidal to 27 m (89 feet) in depth.
DIET: Digests organic detritus and small organisms in soft sediments.
REPRODUCTION?DEVELOPMENT: Have separate sexes (look alike), and eggs are fertilized externally. Broadcast spawning usually takes place in November, and each female can produce thousands of eggs. After fertilization, a larva is formed which metamorphoses into a Sea Cucumber after a few weeks.
MORTALITY/LONGEVITY: Eaten by sea stars including the sunflower star. Sea otters and humans are also predators. Lifespan estimated to be 5-10 years in the wild.
CONSERVATION: IUCN Red list; Not Evaluated
REMARKS: Holothuroids differ from echinoderms, because they have a water vascular system full of body fluid rather than sea water. Like other echinoderms, cucumbers have a calcareous skeleton; but in their case it is only vestigial, composed of plates and spicules of lime buried in the skin and serving merely to stiffen the body wall. Respiratory trees are the lungs of a sea cucumber. These hollow branched organs lie inside the body cavity on either side of the posterior intestine. The base of the tree connects to a muscular cavity, or cloaca. Oxygen is transferred across the thin membrane into the fluids of the body cavity. When the oxygen is depleted, the main body wall contracts to squeeze water out of the trees.
When threatened, it can expel all its internal organs through its anus (evisceration) and grow new ones in 2-4 weeks. It can also expel sticky filaments to ensnare or confuse predators. Warty sea cucumbers and their related species are sometimes called the “earthworms of the sea,” as they cultivate the seafloor in much the same manner as earthworms cultivate the soil. Oral tube feet around the mouth are covered with a sticky mucus that traps food particles from the seafloor's sediment and mud. In areas where overfishing has reduced the population of sea cucumbers, the seafloor hardens, thus destroying a habitat for other bottom-dwelling creatures. Can walk on tube feet if stressed up to one yard every 15 min..
Humans eat a variety of sea cucumber species, including Warty sea cucumbers. The demand is greatest in Asian countries, for consumption and folk medicine applications. It is considered to be widely overfished.
References
California Academy of Sciences Docent Tide pool training 2015
ADW Animal Diversity Web, U. of Michigan
animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Parastichopus_par...
Encyclopedia of Life eol.org/pages/597920/details
Monterey Bay Aquarium www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/invertebrates/wa...
Ron's Wordpress Shortlink wp.me/p1DZ4b-s6
Ron's flickr www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/3702926813/in/album-721...
Tidepool
8-9-12, 10-16-14, 12-7-15
Part of my Double Bubble Jacks Beaded Bead series. Czech glass, Japanese seed beads, sterling silver. June 2009.
TAXONOMY
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Echinoidea
Order: Echinoida
Family: Strongylocentrotidae
Genus/species: Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
GENERAL CHARACTERISTIC: Round body with radially symmetrical test, (shell), covered with large spines 0.5 cm (2 in) in diameter, rarely to 10 cm (4in). Test and spines are pale green (young) to purple (adults). Also covering the test or shell, are tube feet and pedicellariae (pincers). The long suckered tube feet visible above the spines are used for locomotion and capture of food, which is then passed along to the mouth. The oral side of the urchin, on which the mouth is located, faces the substrate (down). Sexes are not physically distinguishable from one another (monomorphic).
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: British Columbia to Baja California in the lower intertidal to 160 m (525 ft) depth. Rounded burrows in rock that have been scoured out by the present or previous urchin using its teeth (Aristotle’s lantern) and spines, a strategy that protects from predators and surge. Subtidal purple urchins live, often in large numbers, on the substrate among kelp holdfasts.
DIET IN THE WILD: Herbivore/Detritivore. Kelp, other algae, diatoms and scavenge on dead animals. These urchins prefer the giant brown kelp Macrocystis and can destroy entire forests of kelp which are commercially important for fisheries. Algin a product from kelp is also used in the manufacturing of plastics, paints and as a thickening agent in foods such as gravy and pudding.
PREDATORS: Preyed upon by seastars such as the sunflower star and cancer crab species as well as fish such as the California sheepshead, shorebirds and sea otters. Sheephead blow over sea urchins and nibble at the oral side where the spines are shortest. When approached by most sea stars, the urchin allows the potential predator to get close, then uses its pincers to attack the sea star’s tube feet. Most sea star species will beat a hasty retreat; however, the sunflower star is too big and fast; the urchin cannot escape and is swallowed whole! Can live to more than 30 years.
REPRODUCTION: Sexually mature during their second year. Sexes are separate, although hermaphrodites occur. Broadcast spawning deposits sperm or eggs into the sea where random fertilization occurs. Pluteus larvae hatch, drift and settle. Growth after metamorphosis is slow.
CONSERVATION: CITES; no special status
REMARKS: Purple pigments from this urchin lodge in the bones and teeth of sea otters, turning the otter’s skeleton and teeth purple.
In the wild, they protect themselves from predation, drying out, and damage from the sun’s UV light by covering themselves with seaweed or shells.
Sea urchin is commonly used in sushi and is considered a delicacy Japan. The primary urchin harvesting company in California sends 75% of the harvest to Japan.
LOCATION
Rocky Reef cluster CC10, California rocky coast CCO6, Tidepool CC15
References
eol eol.org/pages/598175/details
Ron's flickr www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/sets/72157608501343477/
Ron's Wordpress shortlink: wp.me/p1DZ4b-vq
4-1-13, 9-11-13, 9-15-14, 1-1-15
Sculpins are small fish of the family Cottidae (order Scorpaeniformes).
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Sculpins are elongated, tapered fish, usually with wide, heavy heads. The gill covers have one or more spines, the pectoral fins are large and fan like, and the skin is either naked or provided with small spines.
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Marine tidepools, California coast.
References
California Academy of Sciences Steinhart Aquarium Tidepool
4-21-16
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Holothuroideaia
Order: Aspidochirotida
Family: Stichopodidae
Genus/species: Parastichopus parvimensis
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Colored brown above, lighter below. Conical black-tipped papillae on the dorsal side provide the common name. The mouth and anus are on opposite ends of their cylindrical bodies. Tube feet aide in gathering food as well as ambulating.Length to 25 cm (10 inches).
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Monterey Bay, California to Baja California. Found on sandy or muddy-sandy soft bottoms between rocks or in eelgrass beds. Sub tidal to 27 m (89 feet) in depth.
DIET: Digests organic detritus and small organisms in soft sediments.
REPRODUCTION?DEVELOPMENT: Have separate sexes (look alike), and eggs are fertilized externally. Broadcast spawning usually takes place in November, and each female can produce thousands of eggs. After fertilization, a larva is formed which metamorphoses into a Sea Cucumber after a few weeks.
MORTALITY/LONGEVITY: Eaten by sea stars including the sunflower star. Sea otters and humans are also predators. Lifespan estimated to be 5-10 years in the wild.
CONSERVATION: IUCN Red list; Not Evaluated
REMARKS: Holothuroids differ from echinoderms, because they have a water vascular system full of body fluid rather than sea water. Like other echinoderms, cucumbers have a calcareous skeleton; but in their case it is only vestigial, composed of plates and spicules of lime buried in the skin and serving merely to stiffen the body wall. Respiratory trees are the lungs of a sea cucumber. These hollow branched organs lie inside the body cavity on either side of the posterior intestine. The base of the tree connects to a muscular cavity, or cloaca. Oxygen is transferred across the thin membrane into the fluids of the body cavity. When the oxygen is depleted, the main body wall contracts to squeeze water out of the trees.
When threatened, it can expel all its internal organs through its anus (evisceration) and grow new ones in 2-4 weeks. It can also expel sticky filaments to ensnare or confuse predators. Warty sea cucumbers and their related species are sometimes called the “earthworms of the sea,” as they cultivate the seafloor in much the same manner as earthworms cultivate the soil. Oral tube feet around the mouth are covered with a sticky mucus that traps food particles from the seafloor's sediment and mud. In areas where overfishing has reduced the population of sea cucumbers, the seafloor hardens, thus destroying a habitat for other bottom-dwelling creatures. Can walk on tube feet if stressed up to one yard every 15 min..
Humans eat a variety of sea cucumber species, including Warty sea cucumbers. The demand is greatest in Asian countries, for consumption and folk medicine applications. It is considered to be widely overfished.
References
California Academy of Sciences Docent Tide pool training 2015
ADW Animal Diversity Web, U. of Michigan
animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Parastichopus_par...
Encyclopedia of Life eol.org/pages/597920/details
Monterey Bay Aquarium www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/invertebrates/wa...
Ron's Wordpress Shortlink wp.me/p1DZ4b-s6
Ron's flickr www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/3702926813/in/album-721...
Tidepool
8-9-12, 10-16-14, 12-7-15
Go to the parking lot for Makapu'u Lighthouse and start up the paved road to the lighthouse. When you get to the whale watching sign at the top, head straight down and you will get to these amazing tidepools. There are also a couple of blowholes. It is an amazing place.
Kaupō Beach Park, O‘ahu.
My new pinhole camera, made by Flickr contact, Barboza*, is a wonderfully crafted tool. It works flawlessly. I've been enjoying using this very compact pinhole camera.
Barboza*matic pinhole camera. Fujifilm Superia 400 film.