Turning over stones

Summer has come (when? I must have missed it) and gone. The geese are on the move again, and the nights are cold. Yesterday the clouds threatened rain. We went to Boundary Bay anyhow, in hopes that the sun would be shining there. It was. For a while.

High tide

Is this a snake, lizard or log?

Another snake-ish piece of driftwood

The tide was almost at its peak, leaving us a thin strip of beach, mostly rocky, to walk along. We poked among the stones, searching for crabs. The small grey crabs on the northern end of this beach are shy creatures; they scuttle for shelter as soon as the light hits them. Here, towards the southern tip, some hide; but last time I was here, I found green crabs that stand their ground and offer battle, waving their pincers menacingly. I poked at one with a fingertip, and it grabbed and held on. I lost that round.

The next time, I used an edge of a clamshell; the tiny, half-inch crab was more than willing to attack it over and over again.

I dare you!

On guard

I found other crabs this time, small, thoroughly camouflaged ones. They neither ran for shelter not waved pincers. They didn't need to.

Blending in

We passed a long stretch of lugworm egg cases, (Here, and here.) interspersed with coiled piles of fecal castings, tiny and large. Among the far-too-plentiful invasive battilaria snails, I was pleased to discover a few miniature, fatter ones, probably native to the area.

And, turning over barnacled rocks to see if I could get a good look at something that twisted and flashed out of sight, I found a pair of these:

I don't know what they are. This is the large one, and the white piles beside it are small barnacles. They were both soft to touch, and shrunk away from my finger, just a bit. The jelly-like flesh is transparent, brown, with greenish stripes inside the gel, not on the surface. The creamy top disappeared inside after I had touched it. They both had tiny bits of sand glued to their skin, shining like jewels in the sunshine. (Click on the photo to get the full effect.)

They look to me like anenomes, closed in for low tide. * But they are in the wrong place, on rocks just at the high tide line. And I have never seen an anenome so small, nor alone like these two were.

So I've got another week of Googling and reading and leafing through indexes to do. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

It was getting close to supper-time. We turned back.

It was raining when we got to the car.

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* Update: Hugh Griffiths identified them for me in the comments; they are Diadumene lineata, reported in the Exotic Species Guide (San Francisco). Thanks Hugh!