June 20, 2015

Report Details

This morning at around 9 a.m., I walked about an eighth of my mile, directly west of NW 37th to NW 39th streets. I was checking on the health of my rock-inhabiting neighbors. Using the “observing eye technique” taught to us by Fawn, I looked carefully at a small area to discern camouflaged life forms. What I saw, was a majority of anemones: many, many anemones. Some of them completely surrounded and covered the rays of an orange sea star. The star appeared to be alive, of vivid color, but covered with a transparent gel. The sand level was high, as it has been for some months, leaving about 10 feet of the tallest rock from top to sand. There were tidepools at the base of the rocks, few on the nearby sands. The sand up to the access steps was also high, covering the bottom three steps and having filled our usual stream mid-beach to the shore. Tide was at about minus seven.Of a total of 28 stars, varying in size from 4 inches (ray to ray) to 8 inches, I saw two that were covered with the gel. Is this a normal reaction of the sea star to its surroundings or body functions? The stars looked to be healthy, firm of texture and vivid of color. I saw no scars, stubs, extra rays or discolorations. A couple, who were photographing the rock, said that they had seen a small dead star moments ago. I looked for it, but found none. Several people have been on the beach for several days, so it is possible that the star was harvested and left high and dry.I also found a tiger snail, about a quarter inch long. The lady of the photographing couple took a picture of it, but whether it shows up on our website is a “maybe."