Bearing the world on his back

 In the bottom few metres of the intertidal zone, I found chitons. Many chitons, tiny to "giant", of at least 4 different species.

This one resists being identified. Is this burden he carries from a sense of responsibility for the world, camouflage, or just because of his attractive personality?

Hardly identifiable as a chiton at all.

Except from the underside. Mouth on the left.

He could possibly be a mossy chiton. Mopalia mucosa: they grow dark, bristle-like hairs around the outer edges. But the algae he wears make it hard to be sure.

He's carrying 5 barnacles of the larger local species, which with time could immobilize him under their weight. But he's not fazed; there's room for more.

I labelled the photo of his back.

4 species of algae, 2 of barnacles, mussels and limpets and a tiny hermit crab. There's probably more, hiding under the sea lettuce.

Tomorrow: the rest of the chitons.

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Entre los últimos metros de la zona baja intramareal, encontré muchos quitones, de varias especies, desde las más pequeñas hasta los que llamamos "gigantes".

Este quitón resiste la identificación. Lleva el mundo en su dorso; ¿será por su gran sentido de responsibilidad hacia su comunidad, para servir de camuflaje, o simplemente porque tiene una personalidad tan atrayente?

Desde arriba, casi no se puede identificar como quitón, pero boca arriba, se ve la forma. Puede ser un quitón "cubierto de musgo", Mopalia mucosa, ya que estos llevan pelos oscuros, tiesos, alrededor de las placas dorsales. Pero por la algas que lleva, es difícil distinguir la especie por cierto.

Lleva 5 bálanos de la especie local grande, los cuales con el tiempo pueden llegar a pesar tanto que se le haga imposible moverse. Pero no se da por vencido; hay lugar para más.

Marqué la foto con algunas identificaciones. Hay 4 especies de alga marina, 2 especies de bálanos, mejillones y lapas y un cangrejo ermitaño miniaturo. Probablemente habrá más, escondido bajo la lechuga marina.

Para mañana, dejo los demás de los quitones.

Baby-blue chiton

The sun came out!

I walked on the shore at high tide, following the line of tossed-up seaweed, looking for kelp and barnacles for my aquarium critters, and empty whelk shells for the hermits; they've been growing and I've noticed them arguing over shells. The old ones are too small.

I found one damaged whelk shell. I was searching the wrong stretches of shore. Each section of the coast and intertidal level has its own unique community.  For whelks and barnacles, I need a lower tide.

But the weekend's stormy seas had ripped up and discarded things I usually only find at the bottom of the intertidal zone.

Mossy chitons, for example. Dead and crab-cleaned. And blue.

Mossy chiton, Mopalia muscosa

This chiton, alive, is covered with stiff, dark bristles, and the shell plates, from above, are dull grey or brown. Creeping over the rocks, it blends into the background.

But the inner shell is a bright blue, the flesh pinkish.

Tide and probably crabs have peeled off much of the outer coating, so even from above, this one is blue.

Another view, on a beached log.

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¡Y salió el sol!

Caminé en la playa, buscando kelp y bálanos para los residentes de mi acuario, y conchas de caracoles marinos para los cangrejos ermitaños que han crecido tanto que ya están peleándose para reclamar conchas que les queden. La marea estaba casi a lo máximo, y no encontré más de una concha, y esa rota. Cada sección de playa y cada zona entre mareas tiene su propia comunidad. Para conchas de estos caracoles, hay que buscar cuando la marea está muy baja.

Pero a causa de las tormentas de los últimos dias, las olas habían arrancado vegetación del fondo, y sus habitantes, y las habían aventado a la parte superior de la playa. Buscando entre las algas y hierbas hecho pedazos y secándose al sol, hallé unos quitones, poliplacóforos, ya muertos y pelados por las olas y los cangrejos.

Y eran azules.

En vida, estos quitones son peludos, con pelo tieso, oscuro, y están cubiertos de una piel de color pardo, que sirve de camuflage. Arrastrándose sobre las rocas, casi desaparecen.

Pero la parte interior de sus ocho placas es de un azul claro, la carne de color de rosa.

Bathed mud crawlers

I keep finding chitons. Under rocks, in tidepools, on soggy mud, under blackish algae, there they are, not moving, almost invisible, looking like oval mud patches surrounded by shreds of algae. When I've seen one in a sludgy pool, there are sure to be more, sometimes in plain sight, although I hadn't seen them.

Years ago, on Stories Beach, Laurie and I found a lined chiton. Easy to see, away from its favourite red algae, and a fast crawler besides. Easy to identify.

Lined chiton, Tonicella lineata, 2010

This year's finds are more challenging. Most of my photos have turned out like blurry blobs of mud. But I caught two chitons on the underside of rocks, lifted them into the sunlight, and poured water over them until the mud washed away. And then it turns out that they are as beautiful in their own way as their showier kin.

Mossy chiton, Mopalia muscosa.

The outside rim, called a girdle, spiky and hairy as it is, is a mud catcher. And the eight plates covering the centre come in variable colours, from grey to brown to green.

Zooming in to see the pattern of the plates. The head end is to the left and the plates overlap each other, going from head to tail.

Brown and yellow, with a couple of decorative accents, red algae.

Zooming in on the head. 

These chitons are night crawlers. In daylight, they sleep. Even disturbed by a rude rock flipper, and given a good bath, these two barely moved. The first one lifted an edge, then flattened itself more tightly to the rock; that was enough exercise for the moment.

These two were on the 50th parallel.