Holding fast?

 

 

We were doing surveys during the low tide this morning (27 April 2024) when Eric spotted this unusual interaction.  The holdfast of a small Sea Palm (Postelsia palmaeformis) had grown over and appeared to be attached to a chiton, Nuttallina californica!

 

Chitons are mobile grazers, moving over the surface of the rock and feeding on algae.  Perhaps they take breaks and stay in place for a while, which allowed the kelp to attach to it?

 

We didn't actually pull on the chiton to see if the haptera (root-like outgrowths) were definitely attached to the chiton, but it sure looks like it:

 

 

 

We'll be back in this area and can check on the kelp and chiton again to see how things turn out.

Pool of light

  

 Morning light in a tidepool with sea urchins (purple) and sea anemones (green).

Slender spur

  

Blue Toadflax (Nuttallanthus texanus) in the Bodega Dunes on 19 April 2024.

P.S.  The "spur" is the long slender part of the flower (to the left of the petals) that's curving downward.

Happy Earth Day!

  

Happy Earth Day!

Most of our recent photos our from Hawai'i, so here's one from the north shore of O'ahu to help celebrate our amazing planet.

Light-eyed?

  

I was checking on some wildflowers in the dunes earlier this week and was noticing it seems to be a good year for many of the annuals, including Dark-eyed Gilia (Gilia millefoliata). 

I had seen hundreds of Dark-eyed Gilias, all with typical purplish petals, when I came across one with all white flower parts:

 

 

I looked around and found eight more plants with white flowers in the same area, but no other white-petaled Gilia flowers elsewhere.  

We've seen this phenomenon of white variants in other species, but I hadn't noticed it in Dark-eyed Gilia before, so I thought it was worth documenting.

The Jepson Manual says that Gilia millefoliata petals can be purple or "colorless," so perhaps this variant appears occasionally and we just hadn't seen it in the Bodega Dunes yet.

P.S.  Should we call the variant Light-eyed Gilia?  ;)
 

Lots of loli!

  

We saw at least 10 species of loli, or sea cucumbers, while snorkeling in Hawai'i.  Eric made this great mosaic before we saw the 10th, so above you can compare 9 different species!  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Top left: loli, or White-spotted Sea Cucumber (Actinopyga varians)
Top center: loli, or Teated Sea Cucumber (Holothuria whitmaei)
Top right: kohe lelewa, or Sand Sea Cucumber (Holothuria arenicola)

Middle left:  loli, or Difficult Sea Cucumber (Holothuria difficilis)
Middle center: loli okuhi kuhi, or Black Sea Cucumber (Holothuria atra)
Middle right: loli koko, or Impatient Sea Cucumber (Holothuria impatiens)

Bottom left: weli, or Conspicuous Sea Cucumber (Opheodesoma spectabilis)
Bottom center: weli, or Tahitian Sea Cucumber (Euapta tahitiensis)
Bottom right: loli, or Light-spotted Sea Cucumber (Holothuria hilla)

And the 10th (not pictured) was a loli ka'e, or Stubborn Sea Cucumber (Holothuria pervicax).

Fun to see so many different species of loli!

On the windward side

  

While in Hawai'i, we walked some east-facing beaches to look for pelagic invertebrates washed ashore.

Above, a small Portuguese Man O' War (Physalia physalis) on Kaua'i on 4 April 2024.

Below, a Purple Sea Snail (Janthina umbilicata).  (Interestingly, the Janthina we found on Kaua'i were quite a bit smaller than the Janthina we observed in California back in March.)

 

 

 

One of the beaches where these species were found: