It's rare that a day off from work coincides with a low tide in the middle of the day so when it happened this year on MLK Jr. day my friend K and I jumped at the chance. Our friends V and G joined us.
K recommended Leo Carillo State Beach. I'd only been
one time before back in 2009 and didn't find much tide pool life, but that had been in the summer with a low tide of 0.9 feet. This day the low tide was -1.4, more than a foot lower, so I knew it would feel completely different.
Here's where we were:
We parked in the lot, since I have free parking passes by being a member of the CA State Park Foundation, and walked under the PCH through a tunnel to get to the beach.
These pools stretch a long way down the beach so while there were quite a few people there, it didn't seem crowded.
Caves were exposed so it was great to explore those - their sides encrusted with life. It was a day of close observation since there were so many small and immobile creatures like barnacles, mussels, chiton, and limpets.
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| Mossy Chiton (Mopalia muscosa) |
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| Snail |
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| Owl Limpet (Lottia gigantea) with barnacles |
Since the tide was so low we also saw a large group of Giant Green Anemone which I'd never seen close up before. There were 4 or 5 in this group.
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| Giant Green Anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) |
A few more photos from the day:
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| The pink "stuff" is coralline algae of some sort |
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| Snails eating |
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| Purple Olive (Olivella biplicata) and Angular Unicorn (Acanthinucella spirata) snail shells stolen by Hermit Crabs (notice the one leg sticking out!) |
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| Bubbling Striped Shore Crab (Pachygrapsus crassipes) |
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| Cormorants |
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| Cormorant |
Another great day on the coast shared with friends.
See more of my photos from this site in the
album.
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