"Twice a month the shore experiences extreme tides. When the sun, earth, and moon are in a straight line, their combined tug causes spring, or extra high and low tides. When the sun and moon are in right-angle position with regard to the earth, their influence is less, as the respective pulls tend to cancel each other out. The ensuing neap tides, as they are called, have a small rise and fall. Excessive spring tides occur in May and June and in November and December, prior to and around the summer and winter solstices." ~An Island Called California, p.3
California Aglaja (Navanax Inermis)
Black Sea Hare (Aplysia Vaccaria)
Coralline Algae (Lithothamnion sp.)
The dark area beneath the rock slab in the foreground is the Octopus' lair
My 5yo found the first octopus on one side of this rock after seeing it, the following video shows how we found the next one on the other side of the same rock.
Growth pattern of Giant Kelp (Macrocystis Pyrifera)
Brooding Sea Anemone (Epiactis Prolifera) it's spitting something out
Unidentified Crab Megalops Larvae
California Sea Hare (Aplysia Californica)
Striped Sea Hare (Navanax inermis)
Sandcastle Worm? (phragmatopoma californica)
Unidentified - egg sac?
Peanut Worm? (Sipuncula)
Eighteen Scaled Worm? (Halosydna brevisetosa) you can also see the 'foot' of the mussel sticking out
Purple Star (Pisaster Ochraceus)
Ghost Shrimp?
Larval Octopus (look close you can see it's suckers)
Purple Sea Star and Unidentified Brittle Star
western spiny brittle star (ophiothrix spiculata) - September 5, 2013
"ophio" meaning snake or serpent, "thrix" meaning hair, and "spicula" meaning needle. These stars can be found entangled in the washed up holdfasts of the majestic Giant Kelp (macrocystis pyrifera). We have observed it "milk" a whitish substance once and this time one of the stars released an orange colored cloudy substance; eggs?
Here are its spines under the microscope... amazing.
