March 26th, 2014

By -

Low Tide: 0.4' @ 4:06 PM

Another less than ideal weather day with wind and rain. There was no exposure when staff arrived for the beginning of the shift, so they returned to the office for a couple hours and came back to the beach  at low tide. Visitors braved the weather to explore the intertidal during the rest of the shift. Our highest visitor count was 32 people exploring the tidepools.

Our juvenile Black Oystercatcher (Heamatopus bachmani) was spotted once again, foraging with its parents.

There were large amounts of sea foam present all along the shoreline. While sea foam can look like an oil spill or pollution washed up on the beach, it is actually caused by large blooms of diatoms, a microscopic plant or phytoplankton. Diatoms and other phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web. Everything in the ocean feeds on microscopic organisms, either directly or indirectly. During a diatom bloom, the surf becomes saturated with the plants and they wash ashore in an oil-like film. Staff were able to observe Acorn Barnacles (Balanus balanoides) feeding on the diatoms using modified legs specially adapted for filter feeding.

This photo, taken by Suzanne Garcia, shows a diatom at high magnification using a scanning electron microscope.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nudibranchs in the Tidepools

By -
Image
Nudibranchs, also referred to as sea slugs, can frequently be spotted in the tidepools at Haystack Rock. There are many species of nudibranch, most having outstanding markings and colors. The nudibranch feed on bryozoans, hydroids and sponges and it's color can be changed by the food it eats.   The nudibranch has a pair of sensory projections on their head, called rhinophores, which allow them to smell and taste. Virtually all nudibranchs have some form of eyes but they are not well developed and in most cases are little more than a pigment spot in the head near the rhinophores.  The nudibranch breathes through gill projections which extract oxygen from the seawater. The Pacific Northwest has more than 200 species of nudibranchs. The Opalescent Nudibranch ( Hermissenda crassicornis ) could be called 'showy'. It is found from Alaska to Baja, California and can grow to two inches in size. At Haystack Rock, it can be found in the sandy bottom of a tidepool. It is slender wit
Read more

What Is That Foam?

By -
Image
Visitors to Haystack Rock were recently greeted with an intertidal covered with a brownish foam and, naturally, asked 'What is That Foam?' The foam has been prevalent up and down the north Oregon coast during the last week, evident both in the surf, on the beaches and in the intertidal zone. Sea Foam on Cannon Beach, Spring 2014 Photo Courtesy of Carolyn Propst The foam is not pollution but is created by microscopic phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are one-celled organisms that are at the bottom of the ocean's food chain. Diatoms are the most common form of phytoplankton on the north Oregon Coast. The phytoplanktons contain a fatty-like material, called cytoplasm, that holds them together. When the phytoplanktons die, the cytoplasm 'glue' the individual skeletons together. This creates layers that trap air within the ocean water, increasing the surface tension and creating the bubbles. When there are a lot of phytoplankton more of them die creating even more
Read more