Morning swim

  

Nice view of a River Otter along the shoreline of Bodega Harbor this morning (15 October 2025).

When the otter dove, it was calm enough to see bubbles trailing at the surface, offering hints of its route under water: 

 

 

P.S.  We wondered about the origin of the bubbles.  Sounds like air trapped in the otter's fur might be released as it swims.
 

Oregon foam

  

There was a pretty large swell and lots of foam washing ashore while we were up in Oregon last week.  With an overcast sky, there were some amazing colors in the bubbles!  Photographed near Cape Perpetua on 29-30 October 2022.

 

 

Worlds of color

Recently I was looking through some close-up photos of foam bubbles.  I couldn't choose a favorite, so here are two examples.  

The two images are pretty different from each other, but they're representative of the amazing worlds of color found on bubbles in sea foam.

[You can click on the images for larger versions.]

 

 

Colors in foam

 

I've been working on some photo organization, so tonight's photo is somewhat random.  It's the photo I happened to end on tonight.  Colors in sea foam from 20 February 2017.

P.S. Can you find the little alien face with the big eyes?  :)

Colors all around

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that I have a bit of a fascination for the colors and patterns in foam bubbles.  Spring is a good time of year to look for this.  There was some foam in the intertidal zone tonight, and I couldn't choose a favorite image, so I've included a few examples.  

 

 

Here's a close-up that's appropriate for tomorrow, 2/22/2020 (below).  Can you find the #2?

 

(There's a small #2 on the left side of the picture, tilted on its side.)

Color film

The ocean has been pretty stormy lately, which often means there's foam near shore.  And where there's foam, there are bubbles.  And you know me — when there are bubbles, it's hard for me to resist taking a few photos.  So here you go — a selection of bubble close-ups from 19 January 2019:

 

 

 

 

 Just amazing!

 

Springtime bubbles

I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at these colorful bubbles!  They seem to be at their best when there's a lot of foam during spring upwelling (=windy) conditions.  A few self-portaits below.  Same bubble, over a span of ~3 minutes.  Photographed 24 March 2018.

In gold:

 

In green:

 

In blue:

 

 

In purple:

 

 

Happy Spring!

 

Field of bubbles

This afternoon I was looking into a tidepool and was intrigued by all of the bubbles attached to the surfgrass (Phyllospadix sp.).  I decided to try to get a picture from an underwater perspective.  Here's the first shot:

 

That was pretty fun, so I decided to try another from a little further away to show the extent of this "field of bubbles."  [I was kneeling next to the tidepool, holding an underwater camera below the surface, so I couldn't quite see what was in the frame.]

 

Wow!  It worked pretty well...and there was a bonus!  A nice Surfgrass Limpet (Lottia paleacea) was in the center of the photo near the top.  This limpet is remarkably well adapted for life on a surfgrass blade.  [For an introduction to the limpet, see the post from 7 June 2012.]

I kept taking pictures from different positions, and I ended up with one more image of the surfgrass blades, the bubbles, and the limpet:

 

I'll definitely keep trying to capture this beautiful underwater scene in other surfgrass meadows!

Following the path

 

The paths of air bubbles in a frozen water droplet photographed in Walpole, Massachusetts, on 25 December 2017.  The water droplet is hanging from the bottom of a Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) berry. 

This is an extreme close-up.  The water droplet was only ~4 mm long.

Once again, I'm not sure how these patterns were created.  But it's fascinating to follow the paths of the air bubbles and to wonder about these micro-landscapes in our backyards. 

  

One more:

 

So cool!

Eddies

 

Colorful eddies swirling on bubbles on the surface of a high tide pool.  Photographed on Bodega Head on 25 June 2017.

 

A few more swirls

Well, I just can't get enough of these bubbles, so here are a few more images from 4 February 2017.  [Click on the pictures for larger versions.]

 

 

 

Galaxies below

Well, you know me, and how I can't resist the colorful swirls in foam bubbles.  Here are a few shots from the rocky shore today (4 February 2017).  [Click on the images for larger versions.  It's worth it!]

 

 

 

 I could watch the swirls in those bubbles all day!

P.S.  For previous posts on bubbles, see "Humbled by a bubble," "Humbled by a bubble -- Part 2," or "Colorful bubbles."

 

Holiday bubbles

A few quick images of the ice along the edge of a small forest stream in Walpole, MA, on 24 December 2016 —

Leaf, bubble, rock:

 

Ice orbits:

 

Effervescent ice:

 

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Rainbows between showers

A vivid rainbow between rain showers on 11 March 2016:

 

And there have been rainbow swirls in foam bubbles during the past few days.  Find your favorite!  [Click on the image for a larger version.]

 

Colorful bubbles

A few more foam bubbles for you, because I just can't get over their colors!

Diversity of color:

 

Color from the side:

 

 

Intensity of color (the copper color is amazing!):

 

 Swirls of color:

 

Bubbles in a tidepool, with anemone tentacles below:

 

 

Watch for these colorful bubbles after strong northwest winds during the late winter and spring!

Purple slime

A quick walk at Salmon Creek Beach on 14 June 2015 yielded some interesting sightings.

 

There were quite a few (perhaps 25?) Blue Buoy Barnacles (Dosima fascicularis).  Many individuals were attached to By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella), but some had their own floats, as above.

There was a lot of foam, and many bubbles, and you know I can't resist photographing colorful bubbles.  

I couldn't choose a favorite bubble picture, so I've included a few (below).  Which one do you like?  (Some of these bubbles were attached to Velella, which created a vivid blue backdrop.)

 

 

 

 

One of the most interesting things we saw wasn't easily photographed.  Here's a picture:

 

I know it doesn't look like much, but I'm guessing you can tell that it looks gelatinous, and purple!

There were probably millions of doliolids washing up on the beach tonight.  Doliolids are planktonic animals related to salps and pyrosomes.  We first noticed doliolids in the surf zone about ten days ago.  This is the first time we've observed large numbers stranding on Salmon Creek Beach.  Although we didn't identify them for sure, it's likely to be Dolioletta gegenbauri.  You can see a nice picture of an individual doliolid at the JelliesZone web site.  (They also include a description of doliolids.)

Unfortunately, the doliolids didn't retain their shape when washed up on the sand, so they just looked like patches of purple slime.  If I get a better picture in the days ahead, I'll post one.  Meanwhile, if you're walking local beaches and see something similar to the picture above, perhaps you'll recognize it as an interesting pelagic animal!

 

P.S.  Eric also noticed an unusual, strong sulfur smell while walking the beach — perhaps emitted by phytoplankton?

 

Humbled by a bubble -- Part 2

A few years ago, I wrote about some colorful bubbles in the intertidal zone (see post on 19 April 2012).  I had wondered if they might appear under certain conditions.  I'm starting to think that the best chance of seeing them is during spring upwelling, when there are high nutrient levels in the water.

I encountered something similar on 24 March 2015 in a mussel bed:

 

There was an amazing diversity of colors in the bubbles among the foam.

 

 

And as before, I was fascinated by the rapid color changes and motion in some of the bubbles:

You can follow the movement of an "eddy" in a green bubble in the next two pictures.  (The images were taken ~1 second apart.)

 

And watch how the large bubble at the bottom of the next picture changes over ~14 seconds.

 

 

 

A wave came and washed this foam away...otherwise I could have watched these bubbles for a long time!