Reading the shells?

  

While in Monterey last weekend, we were thinking about southern species that might become more common farther north if a major El Niño event arrives this fall/winter.  For fun, while walking the beach we gathered some shells and ended up with 11 of these species.  We used all of them to spell out El Niño in the photo above.

Three barnacles: Megabalanus tintinnabulum, Paraconcavus pacificus, Tetraclita rubescens

Six snails: Acanthinucella punctulata, Californiconus californicus, Hespererato vitellina, Atrimitra (formerly Mitra) idae, Pseudomelatoma torosa, Pseudopusula (formerly Trivia) californiana

Two limpets: Fissurella volcano, Lottia gigantea

You can click on the image above for a larger version, and here's an example with labels, a close-up of the "E":

 

 

 

P.S.  If you're interested, you can follow NOAA's El Niño predictions at this link (updated monthly).