For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. These blue mussels can be distinguished from the more common California mussel by their size. Blue mussels are much smaller in comparison. These blue mussels were covering a few of the rocks in the tide pools and were much less common than the larger California mussels. This little guy had fallen off his rock, so I picked it up for a picture. It was only about an inch long and two centimeters wide and its shell was a dark blue with no markings.
The striped shell is the shield limpet. For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. I only saw a few of these limpets of this same coloration on the rocks in the tide pools at this beach. There were others, but they were of different species or had different coloration. This limpet caught my eye because of its odd black stripes. Limpets are a species of sea snail that have very simple, flat shells. They stick themselves to rocks, just like this one in particular was.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. These little anemones were in groups buried in the sand all over the beach. It was odd to me because I had only ever seen them living on rocks, not in the sand. A few of them, like the one in the second picture, had their tentacles out, which were light green with pink tips. Each anemone was about an inch across and the one in the picture was one of only a few that was on its own, the rest were in large groups. Occasionally, they would squirt water at me from surprisingly great distances.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. This observation was a surprising and exciting find for me. I have never seen a live geoduck before, and these geoduck siphons are the closest I've ever come. There were about six of them in a small group poking above the surface in the soft sand. They were visibly sucking in water, which is because the geoducks are trying to eat the plankton in the water. When poked, these little siphons would bury themselves in the sand and come back up after a few seconds. Geoducks are the largest bivalves in the Puget Sound, the largest burrowing clam in the world, and one of the longest living animals on earth (they can live up to 146 years).
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. These little sand fleas (also called beach hoppers) are a common sight on the higher parts of the intertidal zone. They like to burrow under dried up and rotting seaweed to hide from the hot sun during the day. Tiny fleas like this one bite surprisingly hard and can cause all kinds of dangerous infections. They will often travel in large groups, though this one was on its own. This flea was only about a centimeter long but could jump fairly high despite its size.
