05/19/2012 Alki Beach

I found myself on Alki Beach and wanted to look at marine life, but was surprised by how much I saw. Initially I noticed barnacles, sea stars, and sea anemones. There were many types of sea stars including Purple Sea Stars and large orange colored sea stars. Anemones varied in color as well, though many were green. Walking along the beach there were many Seagulls, which I believe were Glaucous-Winged gulls based on their coloration. Some juveniles were present which were obvious because of their brownish color. There were some crabs in the beach, including dead ones that appeared to be Dungeness crabs. Crows were flying around the beach as well. In one tidepool along the beach there were gunnels. I thought they were fish but they turned out to be gunnels. Walking further down the beach I walked under a pier that made many blue mussels growing on it, well enough to see the tide line of the water. Walking further out I saw many of the same species until I came across a pool of sand dollars which was interesting. There were many of them, purple in color and fuzzy looking almost. This was the furthest point I walked out to, until I turned around and walked back along the beach. It was cool to see all this marine life and it made me think about how much we have focused on the terrestrial environment when the marine environment in the northwest is so interesting as well.

Publicado el mayo 31, 2012 08:17 TARDE por skylarwilkins