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It seems like beautiful things are supposed to be rare. But Hermissenda is one of the most common local nudibranchs. -
Yellow dorid sea slug. -
Calalina Triopha sea slug. -
Janolus sea slug. -
The Hopkin’s rose sea slug is a normally southern species that showed up in northern California about three years ago when the sea was especially warm. They became the most conspicuous nudibranch in our local tide pools, but now they seem to have disappeared. -
Heath’s dorid sea slug. There are several similar yellow species that are commonly called sea lemons -
Hudson’s dorid sea slug. -
Spotted Triopha sea slug. -
The Spanish shawl nudibranch is very uncommon around here. We’ve only seen two, one of which we saw on scuba in deeper water at Trinidad. -
Nanaimo dorid. -
White-lined Dirona sea slug. -
Yellow-edged Cadlina sea slug. -
Three-lined aeolid sea slug. -
O’Donoghue’s dorid. -
A painted anemone. -
A pink-tipped anemone. -
Giant green anemone with spider crab: We’ve noticed these small spider crabs associated with giant green anemones a couple of times. -
We have several species of colorful anemones on our local rocky shores. Some species of anemone exhibit much variation, so there’s an endless supply of color. -
Urchins have exploded in numbers recently. You may have read all about it in the North Coast Journal (“’Perfect Storm’ Has North Coast Marine Ecosystem Reeling, Abalone in Crisis,” March 8). But it sure is pretty when the red urchins are hanging out with the purple urchins. -
This unfortunate sculpin had several green marine leaches attached. And a normally non-parasitic isopod apparently thought a sculpin face was a good resting spot. -
The cabezon is our largest sculpin, but this one is small. They come in a lot of bright colors that blend in with colorful algae They are hard to intimidate and will sometimes attack before fleeing. We still have all our fingers though. -
This young-of-the-year red Irish lord sculpin appears to be eyeing its next meal. -
The painted greenling, and greenlings in general, are very curious. They act all nervous but keep coming back to see what’s going on. It took about 15 minutes to get this one to pose. -
We aren’t sure what species of sculpin this is but it’s about as colorfully detailed as they get. -
This rock greenling was apparently protecting its nest on New Year’s Eve 2017. It stayed in our faces as we floated from pool to pool. -
The monkeyface prickleback may or may not be grumpy. But they are definitely curious and with some patience they can be coaxed from the rocks to frown for the camera. -
This is probably an east Pacific red octopus. It’s hard to tell them from juvenile giant Pacific octopus when they are small like this. Both of these species change colors rapidly from brick red to mottled green and yellow to almost white. They also change the texture of their skin. We’ve had the best luck seeing them at night in winter. -
We have a lot of chiton species on the north coast, which range in size from a dime to a football. But the blue-lined chiton is the flashiest by far. -
Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest by Lamb and Hanby calls the blue-ringed top snail “perhaps the Pacific Northwest’s most spectacular shell.” -
Blue-spotted hermit crab. -
Red rock crabs don’t start out red. The juveniles display a vast variety of colors and patterns. -
This giant rock scallop will eventually attach to a rock. But when they are small, they are able to jet around, eyes first, by clapping their shells together. -
Bering hermit crab: As the name suggests, the Bering hermit crab is in the southern part of its range around here. -
Brittle stars are common under rocks. But please don’t turn over rocks to see them or else you’ll kill a bunch of stuff. -
Pacific blood star. -
Scale worm on ocre star: Scale worms are common on various sea stars and often mimic the color of the host — an ocre star in this case. -
Six-armed sea star. -
Stalked jellyfish. It attaches to kelp rather than swim around like regular bell-shaped jellyfish.
Creatures of the Shallows
