Gaudy noodles

I've been collecting water and goodies for my aquarium all summer from a peaceful beach; a barricade of logs, a bit of gravel, a stony strip, and acres of sand in a protected bay. The water is clear, the wading easy. And the top of the rising tide brings in fresh sea lettuce and eelgrass, salad and exercise equipment for my critters combined.

Now, as the sunlight fades and the storms increase, the offerings cast up on shore have changed. Turkish towel and kelp lose their grip and are swept inland, along with rockweed bladders and sheets of red algae. I'm finding oyster shells, picked clean, and crushed crab carapaces; in the summer, these would have washed ashore whole.

A couple of days ago, the waves brought in a generous helping of red noodles.

Red noodle salad on a carved bark plate.

Succulent seaweed, Sarcodiotheca gaudichaudii. (Love that name!) As found.

Also in this photo: eelgrass strips, sea lettuce, rockweed, red algae sheets, Turkish towel, a curly-edged purplish kelp, and a branched, brown seaweed.

I brought home a handful, cleaned it, and floated it in a white tray for a better look.

Still looks good enough to eat.

Detail of knobby section of plant. Reproductive structures, maybe?

They say it's edible, but my hermits looked it over briefly and turned up their collective noses at it. So I didn't try it, either.