© 2009 JUDITH LEA GARFIELD
Bat stars (Asterina miniata) vary in color from orange to purple to bland, some mottled with more than one color.
© 2009 JUDITH LEA GARFIELD
Surveying geological forms like ocean-carved and -polished rocks and boulders is another fun aspect to tidepooling.
© 2009 JUDITH LEA GARFIELD
A brown rock crab (Cancer antennarius) is color camouflaged to its background, something that can’t be said of the aggregating anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima). Symbiotic green algae prevent the naturally white anemone from blending into the background.
© 2009 JUDITH LEA GARFIELD
Shrimplike critters called euphausiids swarm together as tide pool captives, awaiting the next incoming tide if hungry shore birds don’t nab them first.
© 2009 JUDITH LEA GARFIELD
Rough limpets (Lottia scabra) piggyback an owl limpet (Lottia gigantea) while helping themselves to some of the owl’s meal of sea lettuce (Ulva sp.).
In “Cannery Row,” writer John Steinbeck’s description of low tide on a rocky beach is surely based on his own tidepooling experiences. He describes how “ …the little water world becomes quiet and lovely… the bottom becomes fantastic with hurrying, fighting, feeding, breeding animals.” His portrayal of tide pool life, compared with more recent results from “trampling” studies (research into the negative impacts on tide pools from an abundance of sightseers and harvesters), highlights that this edge of the sea has been seriously depleted since Steinbeck’s day. Though marine life is now more limited, particularly on urban rocky beaches, interesting discoveries can still be made by those who are patient and focused. Here’s a sampling from my recent tide pool explorations.
— Judith Lea Garfield, biologist and underwater photographer, has authored two natural history books about the underwater park off La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores. www.judith.garfield.org. Questions, comments or suggestions? E-mail jgarfield@ucsd.edu.
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