Does Anybody Eat This Stuff?

A question asked of Beach Naturalists:   "Does anybody eat this stuff?"  Referring to the various marine invertebrates found on our beaches that are not on your local seafood restaurant menu.  Clams, mussels,
scallops, oysters, seaweed, snails, octopus, squid, crab, shrimp, all favorites of many seafood lovers.  But what about sea slugs, moon snails, worms, sea anemones, sea cucumbers, urchins, sand dollars, sea stars, chitons, etc.?  My knowledge is limited on this subject, but I know somebody somewhere likely eats all this stuff; sea stars in China.  A beach goer asked me if I knew what the Native Americans might have eaten....and luckily I did have an old reference for him....well not exactly..more like First Nation tribe on Vancouver Island, B.C.
The reference is, "Teachings of the Tides,  David Ellis and Luke Swan, Theytus Books Limited, Namimo, B.C. Canada 1981.  Sadly the book, to my knowledge, is out of print but is available through Amazon used books....at a price.
This 181 page paperback is a collection of the recollections of Luke Swan of the Manhousat (Maan'u7is7ath) tribe, Flores Island on the west side of Vancouver Island.  Luke Swan was born in 1893 and passed on the information to David Ellis.  The book covers native names of various marine invertebrates, collecting methods, cooking methods for each animal as well as native names for certain parts of the animals.  Ever wonder what a "p'a7am" was....or why it was considered a "dirty word" by the natives?  Well you will find out in this book....plus lots of other cool stuff;  like did you know eating "humam" would make you stupid.  At least I have an excuse.

I value my copy, purchased 30 years ago at a much better price than you will find a used one...  :)

Spring River Otter Activity

Juvenile River Otters Constellation Park

Catching a fleeting view of a River Otter in Puget Sound or fresh water habitat can be a real treat.  Over the past few weeks I've been lucky to see more River Otter activity than I've seen in the last 30 years.  From adult river otters mating at Lincoln Park to 2 juveniles fishing and eating at Constellation Park Marine Reserve.
River Otters are cousins of Sea Otters, Mink, Skunks, Weasels....that lot.  In fact I've seen more Mink in Puget Sound than River Otters over the years. 
While a few Sea Otters do on rare occasion wander into Puget Sound, they are animals of the outer coast.  River Otters are common both in the Sound and rivers, lakes...anywhere there is water and food...mainly fish.  I've never seen River Otters eating anything but flounder in Puget Sound, and if it was identifiable it was Starry Flounder.  River Otters are legally hunted, trapped in Washington State, while Sea Otters are totally protected.

Mating River Otters

Mating River Otters



Mating Pair River Otters




Juvenile River Otters Constellation Park

River Otters den, often in Seattle Green Belts, while Sea Otters do not use dens.  River Otters are born in litters, Sea Otters as single births.  There is lots of additional information on the Washington Fish and Wildlife website.  http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/river_otters.html

Images from Schmitz Park 5-19-11

Some Images from Schmitz Park -  Minus 3.1ft tide.  Students from Aviation High School did data collecting today for Citizen Science program at the Seattle Aquarium.  One interesting finding was that the beach was shorter from top to bottom than last year......things change.  

Entrance to Giant Pacific Octopus den

Shaggy Mouse sea slug (look closely)

Masked Bandit

Dead Witches Hair seaweed

If you look closely at one of these images you should find an answer to the previous blog post concerning an extratrestrial visitor.   :)

Unbelieveable

I thought it would be hard to top the chiton thing from Alki....but today was something else.
At Schmitz Park I saw what I thought was a strange looking kid in a hoody...to my amazement, a closer look brought me face to face with ET's girlfriend......she was kinda cute with the curls and all but the eyes were very unsettling.....she tried to hurry away but I got a quick shot with my cell phone and heard her say only,
"home".    The CIA, FBI, and local police are searching the kelp now for any evidence of her space ship.
More Later...

Excuse the poor quality of the image, cell phone, and in a hurry.

You're pulling my leg....

Look closely at these two images of the Lined Chiton......do you see the big difference?
Well, don't spend too much of your valuable time looking for it......for you see the images are of the same individual chiton at Constellation Park Marine Reserve.....
Well it's the same chiton for sure, but it's aged from one photo to the next.....
One photo was taken on July 13th 2010, the second photo was taken May 18th 2011...ya that's today,
HAPPY MOUNT SAINT HELEN'S Day!

5-18-11

7-13-10

So I'm trying to figure out the odds of the same person taking a picture of the exact same chiton on a third of a mile long beach in two different years.......anyone out there good at math?

Tidepool plankton.......

During a recent training session for Beach Naturalists I was showing plankton in LOTE area.  I was asked if the sample I was showing was concentrated sea water or if that's how dense the plankton was naturally.
It was concentrated many times through the use of a plankton net......so natural density was not what was shown in the sample. 

However there are situations where the concentration of plankton...even zooplankton can be quite high in the natural setting....as in this image of a tide pool at Constellation Park Marine Reserve....5-17-11.

Ocean Acidification

Ocean Acidification is also known as CO2's other pending disaster.  As increasing CO2 from the atmosphere enters the oceans it causes a lowering of pH...normal is 8.1.  Some areas in Puget Sound have been measured as low as 7.4.  As the ocean becomes more acidic it reduces the ability of organisms that produce calcium carbonate shells and skeletons to produce those parts.  In planktonic organisms and larval stages more acidic water may  kill the organism. 
On Washington's Willapa Bay and other areas another problem is the increase in upwelling (a normal spring/summer process) brings oxygen depleted, gas saturated, more acidic cold water into shallow bays where oyster reefs are located, and into oyster hatcheries.  This water interferes with the development of larval oysters.  This is a major problem for oyster growers, not to mention the oysters.  A lowering of ocean pH will only add to this problem.  To read more on the subject check out: 

http://www.pcsga.org/pub/science/Emergency_Seed_Proposal_Indesign-1.pdf

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100712_pugetsound.html

http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-videos/ocean-acidification-puget-sound