Like mother, like otter?

During our recent visit to the Carmel area, we noticed a couple of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) offshore.  Here's a mom and a pup grooming (above), nursing (below), and a few extras of the pup, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magic blue spiral

  

We were long overdue on a survey that we needed to get done in Monterey County, so we made a quick day-trip down to the Carmel area this week.  Thankfully, we were able to finish the survey in a few hours, and at the very end of it Eric spotted this beautiful tube worm in a tidepool.  Although time was short, he managed to take this wonderful photo.  Meet Spirobranchus spinosus!  This is a more southern species, but we'll be on the lookout to see if any show up in Bodega Bay in the future.

Isn't the blue color amazing?  The tentacles of this species aren't always blue, and I hope to show some of the color variation in another post.

Out for a stroll

  

Small white sea cucumbers can be hard to identify.  This one might be a Stiff-footed Sea Cucumber (Eupentacta quinquesemita).  Photographed in northern Sonoma County earlier this month.

Sunshine corner

  

Air temperatures reached daily record highs today (23 February 2021).  It was in the high 70s and perhaps the low 80s in Cotati this afternoon.  With warmth like that, it's not surprising a few butterflies were out basking in the sun.  Late in the day we found one little sunny corner in our neighborhood with a handful of butterflies — a mixed "flock" of California Tortoiseshells (Nymphalis californica), shown above, and West Coast Ladies (Vanessa annabella).

Sculpin blues

  

 Another pretty intertidal sculpin just for you!  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

Little horseshoes on the sand

  

Yesterday (20 February 2021) when Eric and I walked on Salmon Creek Beach, we found lots of these horseshoe-shaped gelatinous structures.  There were a variety of sizes and some variations in the details of the shape, but we think it's likely they all belong to the same species.  Here are several views with a ruler for scale:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of you might recall that we found something similar several years ago (in 2015 and 2016).  We think these are the nectophores of a siphonophore called Hippopodius hippopus.  This primarily southern species is not common in Bodega Bay, but yesterday we found over 50 of these nectophores on the beach in about one hour of walking. 

 

If you're not familiar with siphonophores, don't worry.  These planktonic colonial invertebrates are usually found offshore in the open ocean, so they are unfamiliar to most people.  And siphonophores are fragile, so if they wash up on the beach, they're usually found in pieces.  The entire colony looks quite different.  

 

To help you envision what the colony looks like, Eric cleaned up this older illustration of Hippopodius hippopus (see below).  The parts we found on the beach (the nectophores) are arranged adjacent to each other at the top.  The trailing sections of the colony below the nectophores include units for feeding, reproduction, and defense.

 

 

 

Modified from Haeckel, E. 1888. Report on the Siphonophorae collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–1876. In: Report of the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger, Zoology, 28: 1–380. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.6513

 

For more explanations and a little more information about Hippopodius hippopus, you can review the post from 16 April 2015.

 

P.S.  I'm interested in other observations of this species, so if you're out walking the beach and see one of these little "horseshoes," take a photo and send it to me! 

 

P.P.S.  I'm posting this as is, but after comparing the 2021 photos with the 2015 photos, I'm not feeling 100% certain about the identification.  I'm going to look into it further and will update this post if I find that this is a different species.

 

First of spring

  

Today (20 February 2021) we encountered our first By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella) of the spring.  Hundreds of Velella were washed ashore on Salmon Creek Beach, although most were very small (even smaller than the one shown here, which is ~15 mm long).

Along with Velella, we saw a handful of different pelagic species, so watch for other wash-ashores during the next few days.