Where the living is green

In the intertidal zone, worms and snails live happily in sand. Crabs and fish live under rocks; limpets live on top. Crabs and  isopods like a seaweed blanket. But under a layer cake of sand, rocks, weed, it's party time; everybody mingles.

Lower intertidal zone, Simms Creek area. 

Calcareous tubeworms, spiral tubeworms, orange-legged hermit, bryozoans, limpet, assorted seaweeds, two pecies of snails, encrusting sponge.

More bryozoans, snail, hermit.

Encrusting sponge, with snails.

Grainy-hand hermit, Pagurus granosimanus.

Green mottled star, spiral tubeworms, bryozoans and sea urchin

Leather star and bryozoan. With hermit, snails, tubeworms.

Hermit (hiding), limpet, sea urchin, two kinds of snails.

Clingfish.

Sand with legs.

The sand seemed to be moving. I collected a bit on my fingertip; it was still moving. The camera saw what my eyes were missing.

A baby crab.

By the shape, longer than he is wide, and pointed at the head, I think he may be one of the kelp crabs.

A pair of babes

I explored a new area on the beach at low tide, and found many tiny starfish, mostly mottled stars, all looking healthy.

Here's one:

Star, Evasterias troschelli, with my fingertip and a baby sea urchin. I don't know what the brown circle is.

I have small fingers; that fingernail is 1/2 inch across at the widest point, which makes the baby star just under an inch, arm tip to arm tip, and the urchin about 1/8 of an inch, not counting the spines.