Mile 311 - Jockey Cap, Silver Pt, S Cannon Beach, Tolovana Beach - July 31, 2022

Report Details

Today, we observed a total of 1388 Ochre sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus) at the northern rocky outcroppings exposed by the low tides at Silver Point. We had 10 team members participate for 1.5 hours for a total survey effort of 15 hours. These efforts involved visually inspecting the stars for signs of sea star wasting syndrome (SSWS) as part of our observational study. A total of 1303 stars were healthy (98.8%), 75 individuals had one white lesion on the ray or central disk (mild SSWS; 5.4%), while 10 individuals had more than one lesion, arm curling, body disintegration, or organs emerging from body cavity (severe SSWS; 0.72%). We sent images to MARINe who confirmed our correct designations of mild vs. severe disease category symptoms. Size class measurements ranged from the minute 5mm to a dinner plate sized 260mm, measured from the center of the central disk to the longest ray. No stars were touched in this observation (visual inspection only). Of the healthy individuals counted, 1226 individuals measured between 30-170mm in terms of size class designations, which is 88% of all healthy Pisaster measured. Many juvenile stars were observed, especially in the crevices of California mussels along the rock wall of Silver Point rock. Additional tidepool invertebrates seen today included Common rock louse, Flat Porcelain crab, Pacific Hairy Hermit Crab, Tar-spot Sea Cucumber, Pelagic Barnacle, California Mussel and Lottia limpet. Two people rode past on horseback close to the Silver Point rocks, and many visitors inquired about our survey work.

Conditions

Temperature: 60 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Tide Level: 0.4 feet.

Report Images

sultanym

CoastWatcher

All Mile 311 Reports

Date

Showing 8 of 26 reports