Purple Shore Crabs & Common California Venus
Purple Shore Crab
Scientific Name: "Hemigrapsus nudas"
Size: 2.25"
Found: Rocky shores, Bays and Estuaries
Habitat: On open rocky shores, among seaweeds, and in bays and estuaries.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Characteristics & Research: Round bodied. Upper surface of carapace purplish black, sometimes reddish brown or greenish yellow, white beneath. Pincers covered with deep purple or red spots, purple or reddish above, fading to white below. Carapace oval-oblong, arched in front, smooth; three short teeth on margin between eye socket and side. Eyes far apart. Pincers large in male, equal, both fingers toothed, pincers tips bent toward each other, cut-shaped. Walking legs sturdy, flattened, not very hairy. The crabs feed primarily on the film of small algae on rocks, but is also a scavenger of animal matter.
Common California Venus
Scientific Name: "Clione californiensis"
Size: length is 1.5-3"
Found: Bays and Estuaries; offshore waters
Habitat: In sand, on flats in bays near low-tide level, and offshore in water 60-150' (18-46) deep.
Description: Almost circular, flattened toward lower margin, thick shelled; hind end often slightly squared off, umbones pointed , curved forward; lunale large; escuthcheon bordered by angled ridges.
exterior-yellowish white; sometimes tinged with brown in front; with low broad radial ribs crossed by strong, distant, erect, sometimes flattened, slightly wavy concentric ridges.
interior-white, usually with purple splotch at front end; hinge and central teeth strong; lower and front margins finely grooved or toothed.
Volcano Barnacle
Scientific Name: "Tetraclita rubescens"
Size: 2"
Found: Rocky shores
Habitat: On rocks, piling, and hard - shelled animals; from low-tide line to water 300' (91 m) deep.
Kingdon: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Description: Conical flat at top. Whitish. Sides composed of two pairs of limy plates overlapping on 1 of 2 unpaired plates. Side plates heavy rough, but without definite ribs; top plates without grooves. These large barnacles are roasted and eaten by Indians in the Northwest.
Sea Urchin
Characteristic:
Research:
Classification:
Scientific Name:
California Rock Lobster
Scientific Name: "Panulirus interruptus"
Size: 16"
Found: Rocky shores and offshore waters.
Habitat: Among rocks in tide pools; at low-tide line and below to moderately deep water.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Description & Research: Long, cylindrical. spiny. Reddish brown, spines red, underside lighter brown, legs with pale brown longitudinal strip. Carapace with rows of strong spines, largest pair of spines above eyestalks, directed forward. First pair of antennae slender, branched, 2/3 body length; second pair of antannae longer than body, large, heavy, spiny, base with strong spines.
California Brown Sea Hare
Scientific Name: "Aplysia californica"
Size: 16"
Found: Rocky shores, Bays and Estuaries.
Habitat: In sheltered places with few waves from low tides line to water 60' (18m) deep.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Opisthobranchia
Description: Plump, soft, with long winglike flaps near the top on either side; shell small, internal. Reddish, brownish or greeenish, with mottled white and dark spots and lines; young usually reddish. Head with one pair of antennae low, near mouth, one larger pair above, farther back, eyes in front of them. Foot extended length of animal from head to beyond body mass. Sea hares are herbivores, eating variety of red, green, and brown algae.
Norris Top Shell
Scientific Name: "Norrisia norrisi"
Size: 1.25-2.25"
Found: Rocky shores
Habitat: On kelp and other algae near low-tide level.
Description: Dome shaped, thick, smooth, flattened; chestnut-brown, darker near umbilicus. Body whorl large, bluntly angled at periphery. Operculum with many turns and a central beginning; edge of turns with thin, flat, horny, platelike projections, inner one curling over when dry. Feeds on several species of the larger brown algae. Both genus and species names honor Thomas Norris (died 1852), whose private collection of shells was one of the largest in England.
Californian Mussel
Scientific Name: "Mytilus californianus"
Size: 2-10'
Found: Rocky shores and offshore waters.
Habitat: On rocks; intertidally to water 150' (46m) deep.
Description: Elongately fan-shaped or triangular, inflated moderately thick-shelled, with hind end rounded; lower margin straight with a narrow gap between valves for byssus.
exterior- purplish gray, covered with smooth, dark brown periostracum, sculptured with numerous irregular, flattened radiating ribs, interspaces darker.
interior- grayish to grayish white, with hind end bluish black; ligament narrow, on a chalky rock that is pitted below two strong, small teeth near umbones. This species is said to be one of the richest in vitamins, it is eaten only locally and more commonly used as fish bait.
Coralline Algae
Scientific Name: "Corallina"
Size: 2-4"
Found: Rocky intertidal
Habitat: In tide pools in lower intertidal and upper subtidal zones. Bright pink and very rough, with jointed, cylindrical branches encrusted with calcium carbonate. Clusters of coralline algae felt stiff and gritty when they are pinched. Their branches provide an excellent habitat for a variety of small invertebrate animals. When they are washed ashore, they dry out and, bleached by the sun, they turn white.
Wavy Turban
Scientific Name: "Astraea undosa"
Size: 2-.4.25"
Found: Rocky shores.
Habitat: In rock areas, from low-tide level to water 60' (18m) deep.
Description: Wide, almost a high. Conical, large; light brown, covered by thick, fibrous periostracum. Whoris coarsely sculptured with wavy, slanted, knobly axial ridges and with a strong, wavy pinched-out cord at periphery. Base marked by a few spiral ridges. Wavy turban moves into shallower, warmer water when it reproduces.
Chestnut Cowry
Scientific Name: "Cypraea spadicea"
Size: 1-2.5"
Found: Rocky shores and offshore water.
Habitat: under ledges or stones. Just below low-tide line to water 120' (36.6m) deep.
Description: Ovate; narrowed at one end, with an evenly rounded back; smooth, shiny; back pale pinkish white, with a large, irregular spot of light chestnut-brown or grayish brownish middle, surrounded by a narrow, irregular, dark reddish-brown margin, base pure white. Both lips have numerous small teeth. The animals mantle is bright orange with dark reddish-orange, wartlike knobs; the foot is white.
Great Keyhole Limpet
Scientific Names: "Megathura crenulata"
Size: 3-4.5"
Found: Rocky shores
Habitat: On rocks from low tide line to shallow depths; common on break waters.
Description: Low, with a large oval hole toward the front; base elongately oval. Exterior yellowish or pinkish gray, with regular, fine radial ribs rendered beaded by concentric grooves. Interior white, with finely toothed margin. The animal has a black or grayish mantle, which is larger than the shell, covering it entirely; it also has a massive yellow foot. It eat both seaweeds and colonial tunicates.
Sea Cradle Chiton
Scientific name: Amphineura sp
Size: 1.5-3"
Found: Rocky shores
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Habitat: On rocks, intertidally to just below low-tide line.
Characteristics: Long, ovate; uneroded valves grayish brown. Crowded, fine beads arranged in diagnol and radiating lines on side areas. Girdle wide black or brown, naked, leathery, covering more than half of valves, and encroaching deeply between valves. Sensitive to light and is found on exposed rocks, often among seaweeds, where it feeds on diatoms and other algae. Its exposed mantle surface is thickly coated with a species of minute microscopic diatoms not found elsewhere in the surrounding environment. The females lay greenish eggs in the summertimes. The living animal's foot is reddish to salmon-colored. The genus name honors Lady Katherine Douglas, who in 1815 sent the first specimens to England.
Purple Stylasterine Sponge
Scientific Name: "Allopora porphyra"
Size: 6"
Found: Rocky Shores
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Hydrozoa
Habitat: On protected shaded faces of exposed rocks; near low-tide line and below.
Characteristics: Colony encrusting, limy. Vivid purple. Covered with scalloped pits, each containing up to 12 feeding polyps surrounded by mouthless stinging polyps. members of this genus seem to thrive best on vertical surfaces where they are not silted or overgrown by algae. They are often found in old sea urchin excavations.
Daisy Brittle Star
Scientific Name: Ophiopholis aculeata
Size: 8"
Found: Rocky shores and Offshore waters.
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Stelleroidea
Subclass: Ophiuroidea
Habitat: Under rocks in tide pools, among kelp holdfast; from low-tide line to water 5435' (1657 m) deep.
Characteristics: Long armed. Red, orange, pink, yellow, white, blue, green, tan, in infinite variety of spots, lines bands, and mottlings. Central disk scalloped, a lobe protruding between adjacent arms, covered with fine, blunt spines and roundish plates. Plates on top of arms surrounded by row of small scales; joints with 5-6 bluntly tapered spines in vertical rows on side of arms. These elegant brittle stars are an exotic sight in a tide pool, scrambling into hiding when one exposes them by lifting away their rock.
Surf Grass
Scientific Name: Zostera marina
Size: blade length up to 4'
Found: Bays and Estuaries
Habitat: On exposed rock y shores.
Characteristics: Strap shaped leaves resemble those of Eelgrass, but are narrower; leaves arise from prostrae rhizomes and roots. Bright green blades grow in tremendous beds approximately 30' by 100'.
Conclusion
My journey through the tide pools has been an experience. Through going several times to Crystal Cove the environmment started to become part of me. I met the different types of marine creatures that lived in these pools. From the sea hares to the crawling hermit crabs. And who could ever forget the green algae that I nearly slipped off of and split my head open on. This environments is a very unique and interesting enviornment to observe. These invertebrates has such different styles of living thus they all live together in the smae type of environment. All of these creatures are dependent on each other. With sea urchins, star fish and other creature who feed of them have no food. With out the green algae more than half of the ock inhabited creature will n ot be able to survive. These creature have many places to stay within the tide pools. The hermit crabs often stay under the crevics of the rocks. Brittle star are found beneath the rocks. Sea hares often slug there bodies along top of the rocks. The star fish attach themselves to the side of anything attachable. Meanwhile the surf grass float rapidly across the ocean surface. One environment has so many different possibilies to live in. The tide pools are a whole world full of apartments, mansions, slums, caves. or islands for these little creatures.