Seas the Day!

 

Happy World Oceans Day!  

I remembered it this morning, so here's a nice picture from the Mendocino coast on 7 June 2015.

Soon

 

Juvenile Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) on 6 June 2015, soon to leave their nest outside of Andy's Market in Sebastopol.

  

A few tips

Once again, Eric's sharp eyes spotted an interesting nudibranch.  This is the first time we've seen this species in the Bodega Bay area.

 

Before we got a close-up view, we could see the tiny black spots, which made it look like the nudibranch had been sprinkled with black pepper.  This individual was ~10 mm long with its foot extended.

Although the northern range limit of Black-tipped Spiny Dorids (Acanthodoris rhodoceras) is Cape Arago in Oregon, it appears that this species is uncommon north of San Francisco.

Here's a closer view of the tall rhinophores (sensory organs) and the black-tipped papillae:

 

Eric captured some very nice video of this wonderful nudibranch.  Here are a few "tips" regarding what to watch for: (1) close-ups of those fabulous black-tipped papillae, (2) the heart beating where there's brown coloration in the center of the nudibranch, and (3) the circle of gill plumes near the back end.  [Click on the title of the video below the viewer to see a higher resolution version.]

spiny_black-tipped_dorid_sanford from Jackie Sones on Vimeo.

Inhaling bubbles

Here's a close-up mystery photo (below).  Can you guess what type of animal this is?

 

It might be tricky unless you're familiar with it.

Here's the entire animal:

 

Meet Navanax inermis.  Although it looks very similar to a nudibranch, Navanax is in a related but different group (Order Cephalaspidea, Family Aglajidae) that includes headshield slugs and bubble snails.

I didn't get a great picture of it, but animals in this group have a well-developed cephalic shield — note the broad head on the left end — that aids in plowing through the sand.  Most have shells, but the shells may be reduced and internal, which makes them hard to see on live animals.  And many have wing-like parapodia that can be folded up over their backs.

Grace spotted Navanax in Bodega Harbor on 4 June 2015.  I'm glad she mentioned that she had found something interesting, because this is an unusual record for this area.  Bodega Harbor is the northern range limit for this species.  In fact, many books still describe the range limit as either Monterey or Bolinas.  But there are local Navanax records from the 1970s (see The Natural Resources of Bodega Harbor by Standing et al., 1975) and Bodega Harbor is also listed as the northern limit in The Light & Smith Manual (2007).

Navanax is known to be a voracious predator.  They eat bubble snails and nudibranchs.

Grace has noticed that one of the bubble snails (Haminoea vesicula) is common in Bodega Harbor right now.  If you haven't seen a bubble snail, here are two quick photos (the second shows the bubble-like shell for which the group is named).

 

 

If you want to see something really impressive, watch Jeff's video of Navanax inhaling a bubble snail.

I don't know how many Navanax are in Bodega Harbor right now.  If you see any, I'd love to hear about it!

Looking out...

...on the Marin Coast (2 June 2015)

Pink stars

 

One-leaf Onion (Allium unifolium), photographed near Dillon Beach on 2 June 2015 

This native wildflower is uncommon, growing in moist clay or serpentine soils, and along grassy streambanks.

If you're interested, you can look up records for One-leaf Onion on the CalFlora website.  Click on a county to find more details about each observation.

Three species on one!

 

Eric spotted this decorator crab (Pugettia producta) with three species of barnacles attached to it.

Can you find three different species of barnacles?

Here's one:

 

The red-and-white striped barnacles are Megabalanus californicus.

The next picture includes a view of a second species:

 

I think the all-white barnacles nestled among the others are Balanus crenatus.

The third species of barnacle has long, flexible "necks."  It was attached to several places on or near the crab's legs:

 

The stalked barnacle is a Gooseneck Barnacle (Pollicipes polymerus).

Three species of barnacle on one crab!  We've seen Balanus crenatus on crabs before, but I can't recall finding Pollicipes or Megabalanus on a crab in the intertidal zone on Bodega Head.

It's been an amazing year for Pollicipes settlement — remember that they have a swimming stage that eventually returns to the shore and metamorphoses into a juvenile barnacle.  Pollicipes seems to be everywhere and in great abundance.  It's probably a good year to find them in unusual places.  

Megabalanus is a southern species, so it is rare in general on Bodega Head.  Perhaps the warm water of the past year allowed it to do better than usual.

Doing a quick count off the top of my head, there are ~9-10 species of barnacles that live on the rocks or other hard substrates in the intertidal zone on Bodega Head...and ~4-5 species of pelagic barnacles that may wash ashore on local beaches.  So that's a total of at least 13-15 species of barnacles that can be found in the Bodega Bay area.  These pictures show 3 species at one time.  In the past I've photographed 4 species at one time.  I think it would be possible to capture 5 species of barnacles in one picture, but it would mean keeping your eyes open for just the right circumstance!