Peanuts and friends

  

Eric snapped this great photo of three peanut worms (Phascolosoma agassizii) yesterday in Monterey County.  It's one of the best photos I've seen of Phascolosoma's tentacles.  They use that beautiful ring of tentacles to reach out to find food particles on nearby surfaces.  

The tentacles are hard to photograph, though, because they're not out for very long, and then the peanut worm retracts them into the long trunk-like introvert (in the photo, the introverts have dark pigment bands). 

P.S.  I first wrote about peanut worms back in 2013.  To learn more about them, check out the post called "Introducing the introvert" from 31 January 2013. 

P.P.S.  If you're wondering, the purple rods in the photo are sea urchin spines at the bottom of the tidepool.

Whorls of spines

  

We worked the low tides in Monterey County during the last couple of days.  Here's a fun caterpillar we encountered along the trail this morning (29 May 2024).  My guess is Western Sheep Moth (Hemileuca eglanterina), but let me know if I'm wrong!

Golden eggs and purple pores

  

Sometimes when we're doing surveys, Eric has the camera while I'm writing field notes.  So when I download the photos later, they mostly show the species we're monitoring, but every now and then Eric sneaks in a different photo (and doesn't tell me)...so it's a surprise!

Here's a fun one -- a cluster of golden fish eggs on the left side, and a pretty purple sponge with prominent excurrent pores on the right side (the excurrent pores are the large diameter holes where water is pushed out after being filtered for food).

Thanks for the colorful photo, Eric! 

Photographed in the rocky intertidal zone in northern Sonoma County on 26 May 2024.

E-fish-ent?

  

We got lucky with another sighting of a River Otter (Lontra canadensis) at a different field site today (24 May 2024), and this one was a little closer, so here are a couple of quick photos.  

We were leaving a survey site and this otter appeared just behind us.  Luckily, Eric had the point-and-shoot camera in his pocket, so he snapped a photo of the otter as it moved across the rocks towards the water.  (These images were heavily cropped.)

In almost no time (less than a minute), the otter was up on the surfgrass (Phyllospadix scouleri) with a fish.  Although I shouldn't be surprised anymore, it's hard not to be amazed at how fast they can find and catch a fish!

 

 

Empty nest

  

During the past month or so we've been enjoying watching a California Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica) nest right outside our kitchen window.  We estimated the four chicks might fledge this week, and sure enough, when we returned home from work tonight, the nest was empty.

Interestingly, when California Scrub-Jays fledge, they are unable to fly.  They spend time in nearby branches and on the ground, and the parents continue to feed them for a month or longer after they leave the nest.  

This fledgling is ~22 days old.  Photographed in Cotati on 21 May 2024.

In the sand and the swell

  

A distant view, but we don't see River Otters (Lontra canadensis) feeding on Mole Crabs (Emerita analoga) that often, so here's one for the record. 

Some people are surprised to hear that River Otters spend quite a bit of time in the ocean (rather than in freshwater habitats).  I'm used to seeing them foraging along the rocky coast, but I still feel amazed when they do not hesitate to head out into fairly good-sized swell:

 

Such strong swimmers!

Subtle shades

  

A zoomed-in view, comparing color and pattern variation in Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina).  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Sculpin in red

  

After field work a couple of days ago, Eric caught up with a beautiful sculpin in the low intertidal zone.  I love the patterning on the pectoral fin!  Photographed along the Sonoma Coast on 12 May 2024.  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Seeing stripes

  

Abby spotted a couple of very nice invertebrates in Marin County last week.  

First, this beautiful flatworm (above), meet Eurylepta californica!  Note the maroon streaks on the white background, and the red patches at the base of the tentacles (the two tentacles are upright, but pointing downward, in the lower right corner).  This species is more often found from Monterey south.  There aren't many northern records, and observations at higher latitudes might be associated with warm-water years.

Similarly, the nudibranch Polycera atra is more common south of Point Reyes.  We've seen it in Bodega Harbor, and it's been documented as far north as British Columbia, but the northern records might be more frequent during El Niño years.

 

 

It's a good time to remain vigilant for marine invertebrates associated with warm water.  Many thanks to Abby for documenting these handsome species and for sharing her beautiful photos!

Splash zone

  

A seascape from Kaua'i to help celebrate Mother's Day — including Mother Earth!

Who's the culprit?

  

This is a scene we came across after finishing field work this morning (9 May 2024).  Some empty-looking whelks (Nucella ostrina) on the sand...and upon closer inspection, their opercula nearby (the operculum is the "trap-door" on the bottom of a snail's foot that seals the opening to its shell when the snail is pulled in).

It looked like the snails had been eaten by a predator, but we couldn't recall seeing this before, so we looked around a little more.

We found even more evidence that something had been eating both whelks and limpets.  Here are a few examples, including snail shells and overturned limpet shells with most of the soft parts missing, but with a thin ring of tissue, evidence that they had been eaten recently:

 

 

So...who was responsible for eating these snails and limpets?

 

We weren't sure, but we kept looking, and Eric eventually spotted a clue.  Tracks in the sand around some of the predated shells:

 

 

 

After thinking through the possibilities, we're guessing these footprints might belong to a rat (!).

 

Rat predation on intertidal invertebrates has been documented previously (Thanks to Sergio!), but we don't recall seeing it locally before.  Maybe because there was a lot of sand at this site it was easier to notice the empty shells and the tracks in the sand.

 

Here's a close-up of one track in case anyone can help us with an identification.  The track was ~1 cm across.

 

 

 

You learn something new every day!

Setting the tone

 

Sunset from Cotati on 6 May 2024

Finding a way

  

 Silver Bee (Habropoda miserabilis) on Seaside Fiddleneck (Amsinckia spectabilis).

 

P.S.  Spectacular Game 7 win for the black-and-gold Bruins!  Yeah, B's! 

Blown in with the wind

  

Conditions were just right for bringing Bonaparte's Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) into Bodega Harbor this week — several consecutive days of steady gale force northwest winds.  

Leaving work tonight (2 May 2024), there were over 50 Bonaparte's Gulls along the west side of the harbor — some resting on the tidal flats, and several groups diving on fish in shallow water:

 

 

 

I'm not sure about the identity of the fish, but a few were visible in the bills of several gulls:

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know if they'll stick around, but if you're in the Bodega Harbor area, watch for these handsome black-headed gulls.