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Sunday, June 6, 2021

Beach denizens

  

Eric and I made a quick trip out to the outer beach on Point Reyes yesterday (5 June 2021).  A few fun beach invertebrate highlights included this Red-backed Jumping Spider (Phidippus johnsoni) hanging out in a large piece of driftwood (above), a nice look at some Western Tiger Beetles (Cicindela oregona) along the upper beach near a freshwater seep :

 
 
Noticeably abundant amphipods, or beach hoppers, feeding on drift algae washed up along the strand line:
 
 
 
And a Pictured Rove Beetle (Thinopinus pictus) feeding on the aforementioned amphipods (!):
 
 

2 comments:

Alice Chan said...

What fun (except for the amphipods who hadn't planned on being someone's snack.)

I love jumping spiders.

Jackie Sones said...

:) Funny, Alice! It would certainly be surprising to be an amphipod munching on algae and then to be ambushed by a rove beetle! Enjoy your seaweed while you can! ;)