More Mysteries of the Deep

(Photo from TESC's invertebrate zoology webpage)

 I went out for a beautiful paddle on Monday morning. When I launched, the tide was extremely low, and I was able to see some marine life that I haven't had the opportunity to see before. There were lots of the amazing creatures pictured here. When I saw them, I assumed they were some kind of anemones, but thanks to David Jamison's fabulous webpage, I was able to identify what I saw as Northern Feather Duster Worms. WORMS! There is a video here of this thing in action, and it is pretty amazing. I think I've written about David Jamison's site before, but I want to mention it again, because it is  incredibly cool to be out paddling, see an animal or plant, and have such an easy to use and detailed resource to help me identify it. In addition to the spectacular worms, I also saw a lot of Purple Sea Stars. Even though being out during such a low tide was kind of weird (my paddle hit the bottom in the middle of the sound!), it was fantastic to get the chance to see some of the animals that live a little further down than I usually get to see.