Hiding in Plain Sight, continued

Continued from yesterday: a walk along Boundary Bay.

I am still learning the ropes with this digital camera. So my focus on this walk along the shore was on seeing what it would do outside, in bright sunlight. I snapped wildly as we went along, at anything and everything, from scenery to the little puddles left by the tide. Even this, which I think is a roller from an ancient wringer washer.

The beach was almost deserted, the tide well out. Not a seagull in sight. And this area was mostly bare of eelgrass. Nothing to see, really, but sand and sky. I turned over a stone with my toe, and tiny crabs scuttled away from the sudden light, buried themselves in the sand again. I investigated a few more puddles and saw movements, something tiny and pale, visible for only a moment. Bending down low, I could see pinkish shrimp-like creatures, almost transparent. I took photos, without much hope of getting anything through the reflecting surface of the water.

Farther on, I found a light-coloured snail and practiced on it.

At home, I blew up my photos and looked them over. I got the shrimp! Yay!

Pale and blurry they may be, but still; I can see their little eyes and the curve of the body. Encouraging.


And that snail? He had company. There is a crab beside him that I hadn't even noticed, looking straight at it on the beach, possibly because he's wearing camouflage colours. And barnacles, and limpets in several colours, another snail. Going back to the "shrimp" photo, I realized I was also seeing something that looks like a white tube with tentacles on the end; some kind of a worm. And something starfish-purple.

Click on the photos to see them full size. For comparison, the snail is about a centimetre ( almost half an inch) long, the "shrimp" about half that.

I brought home a handful of dead eel-grass from the high-tide line, and a bit of plain sand. Looking at it through my hand microscope (40x), I discovered that it was full of worms, some large enough to see segments, the intestines and a whip-like tail, some so small that they seemed barely more than a lively thread.

Nothing to see but sand? I will never say that again.

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Checking the blogs yesterday, I ran across a photo posted by GrrlScientist, submitted by an underwater photo site, of a Leafy Sea Dragon. Absolutely stunning! And what an example of camouflage! (Copyrighted: you'll have to click on the link to see it.)

Jeff writes,

"Sea Dragons are arguably the most spectacular and mysterious of all ocean fish. Though close relatives of sea horses, sea dragons have larger bodies and leaf-like appendages which enable them to hide among floating seaweed or kelp beds. ...

...Leafy Sea Dragons are very interesting to watch-- the leafy appendages are not used for movement. The body of a sea dragon scarcely appears to move at all. Steering and turning is through movement of tiny, translucent fins along the sides of the head (pectoral fins, visible above) and propulsion derives from the dorsal fins (along the spine). Their movement is as though an invisible hand were helping, causing them to glide and tumble in peculiar but graceful patterns in slow-motion. This movement appears to mimic the swaying movements of the seaweed and kelp. Only close observation reveals movement of an eye or tiny fins."

He has many more photos; beautiful, all of them. Go over and browse.

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Next: eagles, same day.