Observations by nudiesbranches

Common name: Jonah Crab
Species name: Cancer borealis
Location found: Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Commonly found on rocky, gravelly, and clay substrates on the continental slope.
Physical description: Cancer irroratus has nine marginal teeth with ROUGH EDGES on the front edge of the carapace beside each eye ("teeth on teeth" on its carapace). The two species can be distinguished by the purplish-brown spots on the carapace of C. irroratus (contrasting with the yellow spots of C. borealis).
Fun fact: The Jonah crab is known to move to areas of preferred temperature for behavioral thermoregulation. The preferred temperature of this animal changes depending on the temperature to which it is acclimated. The estimated average preferred temperature is 15.4 °C (59.7 °F).
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_crab

Common name: Common Coralline
Species name: Corallina officinalis
Location found: Boothbay Harbor in East Boothbay, Maine
Status: Alive, attached to rocks
Habitats: Typically and predominantly grows in the lower and mid-littoral zones on rocky shores, especially where fucoid algae are absent. It is usually found growing around rims of tide pools, but can also be found in shallow crevices anywhere on the rocky shore, regulated by refreshed sea water. It is also found further up shore on exposed coasts
Physical description: Pinkish white to lilac, calcified, articulated fronds, axis cylindrical to compressed, repeatedly pinnate from and expanded discoid base, branching often irregular. The growth is often stunted (short). Miniature and flat version of branching corals
Fun fact: To strengthen its thallus, t forms calcium carbonate deposits within its cells
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corallina_officinalis
http://www.seaweed.ie/descriptions/Corallina_officinalis.php
"Illustrated Key to the Seaweeds of New England" by Martine Villalard-Bohnsack (A Publication of The Rhode Island Natural History Survey, Kingston, RI. Second Edition, 2003)

Common name: Dead Man's Fingers
Species name: Codium fragile
Location found: Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Status: Alive, attached onto rocks
Habitats: A siphonous green alga with dark green in color. It appears as a fuzzy patch of tubular fingers, which hang down from rocks during low tide, hence the nickname "dead man's fingers". The "fingers" are branches up to a centimeter wide and sometimes over 30 centimeters long.
Physical description: (It is an invasive species) Cortication covering most of the thallus; beaded appearance observable, but often obscured. They have bushy thallus (up to 40 centimeter tall) and abundant dichotomous branching. Under a microscope, they clearly have pincers at the tip of each branch
Fun fact: There are 3 subspecies within C. fragile: Codium fragile subsp. atlanticum, Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides, and Codium fragile subsp. scandinavicum. They can only be distinguished microscopically!
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codium_fragile
"Illustrated Key to the Seaweeds of New England" by Martine Villalard-Bohnsack (A Publication of The Rhode Island Natural History Survey, Kingston, RI. Second Edition, 2003)

Common name: Red Hornweed
Species name: Ceramium virgatum
Location found: Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Status: Alive, free-floating
Habitats: They are common in rock pools and in the upper sub-littoral in a wide range of habitats. Usually attached to stones and shells, or epiphytic on other algae such as Codium fragile
Physical description: Cortication covering most of the thallus; beaded appearance observable, but often obscured. They have bushy thallus (up to 40 centimeter tall) and abundant dichotomous branching. Under a microscope, they clearly have pincers at the tip of each branch
Fun fact: Pincers may disappear in older specimens!
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramium_virgatum
"Illustrated Key to the Seaweeds of New England" by Martine Villalard-Bohnsack (A Publication of The Rhode Island Natural History Survey, Kingston, RI. Second Edition, 2003)

Common name: Atlantic Horseshoe Crab
Species name: Limulus polyphemus
Location found: Strawberry Hill Marsh, Ipswich, MA
Status: Dead
Habitats: They range from shallow coastal habitats such as lagoons, estuaries and mangrove to depths of more than 200 meters (660 feet) up to 56 kilometers (35 miles) offshore
Physical description: Horseshoe crabs have three main parts to the body: Prosoma (head region), Opisthosoma (abdominal region), and Telson (spine-like tail). They have a smooth shell or carapace that is shaped like a horseshoe, and is greenish grey to dark brown in color
Fun fact: This species is one of the three horseshoe crab organism that is being harvested for their blue blood. The blue blood contains a substance called Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) to detect bacterial endotoxins in pharmaceuticals and to test for several bacterial diseases.
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_horseshoe_crab

Common name: Atlantic Ribbed Mussel
Species name: Geukensia demissa
Location found: Strawberry Hill Marsh, Ipswich, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Usually occurs in the coastal waters of salt marsh habitats
Physical description: The appearance of the shell is grooved or ribbed (hence, the common name) and oval in shape. The interior of this mussel is tinted purple.
Fun fact: Age can be determined by the dark growth rings on the shell and can typically live up to 10-15 years
Reference(s):
https://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Geukensia_demissa.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geukensia_demissa

Common name: Eastern Oyster
Species name: Crassostrea virginica
Location found: Strawberry Hill Marsh , Ipswich, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Forms extensive reefs, both intertidally and subtidally
Physical description: The shell is thick, flattened and highly variable in shape. It grows from round/irregular to oval and usually bears concentric ridges. The outer color of the shell is dirty white to gray and the inner shell is bright white with a deep purple or red-brown muscle scar (Kay 1979)
Fun fact: They are considered a foundation species in many environments as they provide a key structural element within their ecosystem. They also serve as ecosystem engineers in western Atlantic estuaries
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_oyster

Common name: Sea Lettuce
Species name: Ulva lactuca
Location found: Grimes Cove, MA
Status: Alive, attached on boulder
Habitats: It is very common on rocks and on other algae in the littoral and sublittoral on shores (particularly where nutrients are abundant)
Physical description: It is a thin, flat green algae growing from a discoid holdfast. The margin is ruffled and frequently torn. The membrane is two cells thick, soft, slippery, and translucent, and grows attached, without a stipe, to rocks or other algae by a small disc-shaped holdfast
Fun fact: When it decays, it produces methane and hydrogen sulfide
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulva_lactuca

Common name: American Lobster
Species name: Homarus americanus
Location found: Grimes Cove, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: It thrives in cold, shallow waters where there are many rocks and free-floating algae and other places to hide from predators. It typically lives at a depth of 4–50 meters (13-164 feet)
Physical description: The rostrum of H. americanus bears one or more spines on the underside, unlike its closest relative of H. gammarus. The spines on the claw is red or red-tipped, and the underside of the claw is orange or red. The legs are slightly more green. The antennae is split into Y-shaped structures with pointed tips.
Fun fact: It can reach up to 20 kilograms in mass (44 pounds), making it the heaviest crustacean in the world (also the heaviest largest living arthropod species)
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_lobster

Common name: Red Puff Balls
Species name: Spermothamnion repens
Location found: Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Status: Alive, free-floating
Habitats: Usually epiphytic on various algae such as Cladophora spp and stipes of Laminaria hyperborea. Also grows on pebbles, bedrock, and dead shells in lower-shore pools. Abundant at sites with moderate to strong current exposure but fairly sheltered from wave action (Maggs & Hommersand, 1993).
Physical description: A red, uniseriate branching filament algae. It accumulates in masses in the drift (hence, the common name red puff balls).
Fun fact: Its gland cells is absent and does not have a distinct main axis
Reference(s):
http://www.algaebase.org/search/species/detail/?species_id=484
http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/biota/algae/rhodo/spermo.htm

Common name: Common Sand Dollar
Species name: Echinarachnius parma
Location found: Lynn Shore Reservation, Nahant, MA
Status: Dead
Habitats: Inhabits isolated areas on sandy bottoms below low tide level down to a depth of 5,000 feet (1,500 meters)
Physical description:The shells (also called tests) of sand dollars are round, flat and disc-like, averaging 3 inches (7.6 cm) in diameters. THe entire shell is covered with maroon-colored moveable spines. When alive, the color it depicts is usually purplish brown, but becomes bleached white when washed ashore. It has five radial furrows branch from the mouth on its underside
Fun fact: This species has been around since the Pliocene epoch (a geological timescale that extends from 5.3 million to 2.58 million years BP!)
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliocene
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinarachnius_parma

Common name: Northern Moon Snail
Species name: Euspira heros
Location found: Lynn Shore Reservation, Nahant, MA
Status: Dead
Habitats: Very common subtidally; lives on sand substrates in bathyal, infralittoral and circalittoral parts and estuary
Physical description: The shell is globular and can grow as large as 125 mm (7 inches) in maximum dimension. It has large operculum, ear-shaped in outline, and somewhat transparent
Fun fact: It drills a hole into its prey's shell with using its radula, releases digestive enzymes, and sucks out predigested contents
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euspira_heros

Common name: Horse mussel
Species name: Modiolus modiolus
Location found: Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Usually found growing on hard substrates including shells and stones, and byssus threads of other mussels
Physical description: The shell is usually brownish to purplish color. The two valves are roughly triangular with rounded umbones (a rounded knob or protuberance) near the anterior end. The annual growth lines are visible on the outer shell, with concentric grooves and ridges. The interior of the shell is white
Fun fact: In Scottish Gaelic, the species is called 'clabaidh-dubha' ('clabby doos'), meaning 'big black mouths'.
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modiolus_modiolus

Common name: Violet Tunicate
Species name: Botrylloides violaceus
Location found: Boothbay Harbor in East Boothbay, Maine
Status: Alive, attached onto rock
Habitats: Colonies attach and grow on solid substrates, and consist of individuals arranged in twisting rows. It grows on a variety of surfaces, include docks, boat hulls, buoys, ropes, pilings, undersides of rocks, eelgrass blades and algae.
Physical description: An area of tunicate attached to a substrate consit of dozens of zooids. Each zooid is a single color; all the zooids within a colony are the same color, ranging from orange, yellow, red, purple, or tan. However, the matrix is usually clear.
Fun fact: It is native to the northwest Pacific from southern China to Japan and Siberia. Outside its native range, it is considered an invasive species and are becoming more common in coastal waters of North America, most likely being spread by shipping industries
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botrylloides_violaceus
http://www.exoticsguide.org/botrylloides_violaceus

Common name: Forbes' Sea Star
Species name: Asterias forbesi
Location found: Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Commonly found on rocky and gravelly substrates. It is also capable of living in brackish water.
Physical description: This sea star's madreporite is usually pink and visible near the edge of the disc. It usually has 5 arms but occasionally has 4 or 6. The outer color ranges from brown to tan to reddish-purple. This species is not set on short stalks unlike Asterias rubens.
Fun fact: Sexes are separate for this species! Sperm and eggs are released into the water column and fertilization is external. They purposely synchronize their emission of gametes to increase the chance of fertilization
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterias_forbesi

Common name: Common Sea Star
Species name: Asterias rubens
Location found: Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Commonly found on rocky and gravelly substrates. It is also capable of living in brackish water.
Physical description: It is usually orange or grown (at times, violet). It normally has five arms, which are often turned up slightly. There is a line of short white spines that run along the center of the upper surface of the arms.
Fun fact: In January 2013, large numbers of A. rubens were washed up near Cleethorpes Pier on the east coast of England (roughly four thousand sea stars). This cause of mass stranding is still unknown to this day.
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_starfish

Common name: Dog Whelk
Species name: Nucella lapillus
Location found: Plum Island (Island of the Essex County), MA
Status: Dead
Habitats: They are found in estuarine waters along the Atlantic coast. They usually prefer the rocky intertidal shores, where their food is abundant.

Physical description: It is small and rounded with a pointed spire. A short, straight siphonal canal is shown by a groove on the underside of the shell, as well as the presence of a deep anal canal. The shell surface is smooth and spirally corded, interrupted with some growth lines. The outer shell color is usually whitish grey, but can be infused with some purple, pink, orange, yellow, and brown tones
Fun fact: The species was once called Buccinum lapillus by Linnaeus in 1758
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whelk

Common name: Knotted Wrack
Species name: Ascophyllum nodosum
Location found: Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Usually attached to rocks or large substrates in intertidal or subtidal zones.
Physical description: A brown algae, common in cold seawater. It has long tough and leathery fronds, irregularly branched fronds with large, egg-shaped air bladders that are set in series at regular intervals along the olive-green fronds.
Fun fact: It is the only species in genus Ascophyllum
Reference(s):
http://www.seaweed.ie/descriptions/ascophyllum_nodosum.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascophyllum

Common name: Soft-shelled Clam
Species name: Mya arenaria
Location found: Boothbay Harbor in East Boothbay, Maine
Status: Dead
Habitats: They live buried in the mud on tidal mudflats
Physical description: It has a calcium carbonate shell, which is very thin and easily broken, hence the name "soft-shells", with extended siphons up to the surface
Fun fact: It is a local delicacy, usually fried or in clam chowder
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-shell_clam

Common name: Atlantic Jackknife Clam/Razor Clam
Species name: Ensis leei
Location found: Boothbay Harbor in East Boothbay, Maine
Status: Dead
Habitats: They live in sand and mud and are found in intertidal or subtidal zones in bays and estuaries
Physical description: It has a brown-greenish streamlined shell with extremely sharp rim. The overall shape bears a strong resemblance to an old fashioned straight razor
Fun fact: Because this species is sensitive to salinity change, the easiest way to catch them for food is to pour salt on the breathing holes. They will try to escape the salt by coming up out of its hole, at which someone can gently grab the shell and pull it out from the ground
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_jackknife_clam

Common name: Hard Clam/Quahog
Species name: Mercenaria mercenaria
Location found: Boothbay Harbor in East Boothbay, Maine
Status: Dead
Habitats: Found in the intertidal zone from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. They are found most abundantly on mud flats, mud/sand flats, and sand flats
Physical description: It has a fairly large and thick shell with uneven, elevated hinges on the anterior. Both shell halves are roughly evenly sized. Sub ovate or triangular in shape
Fun fact: The quahog is the official shellfish of the U.S. state of Rhode Island
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_clam
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Mercenaria_mercenaria/

Common name: Acorn Barnacle
Species name: Semibalanus balanoides
Location found: Canoe Beach in Nahant, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Common on rocks or other substrates in the intertidal zone, both coasts of the United States
Physical description: Sessile, living organism that are attached onto rocks or other hard substrates. They have six greyish wall plates surrounding a diamond-shaped operculum.
Fun fact: In order for them to breed, the mean monthly temperature of the sea must drop below 7.2°C (45.0°F).
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semibalanus_balanoides
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Semibalanus_balanoides/

Common name: Asian Shore Crab
Species name: Hemigrapsus sanguineus
Location found: Canoe Beach in Nahant, MA
Status: Alive
Habitats: Inhabits any shallow hard-bottom intertidal or sometimes subtidal habitat
Physical description: (It is an invasive species) It has three teeth along the forward sides. Its pereiopods are marked with alternating light and dark bands
Fun fact: Females produce up to 50,000 eggs at a time
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemigrapsus_sanguineus

Common name: Blue Mussel
Species name: Mytilus edulis
Location found: Canoe Beach in Nahant, MA
Status: Dead
Habitats: Usually found in intertidal areas attached to rocks and other hard substrates
Physical description: They are characterized by a smooth inequilateral shell, usually purple, blue, or dark brown, which features concentric growth lines emanating from the hinge. The interior of the shell is pearl-white
Fun fact: They attach themselves to substrates by strong thread-like structures called byssal threads
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_mussel
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Mytilus_edulis/

Common name: European Green Crab/Green Shore Crab
Species name: Carcinus maenas
Location found: Canoe Beach in Nahant, MA
Status: Dead
Habitats: Found in protected or semiprotected marine and estuarine habitats, including those with mud, sand, or rock substrates, and submerged aquatic vegetation
Physical description: (It is an invasive species) The side of the shell has five short teeth along the rim behind each eye, and three undulations between the eyes. Color varies from red to green to brown to grey
Fun fact: The crabs have floating larval stage
Reference(s):
https://wdfw.wa.gov/ais/carcinus_maenas/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinus_maenas

Common name: Common Periwinkle
Species name: Littorina littorea
Location found: Canoe Beach in Nahant, MA
Status: Alive, attached to Ascophyllum nodosum
Habitats: Usually found on rocky shores in the higher and middle intertidal zone
Physical description: Thick, broadly ovate shell and sharply pointed. There is six to seven whorls on its shell with some wrinkles. The color varies from grayish to gray-brown, with dark spiral bands. The base of the columella is white.
Fun fact: This periwinkle is edible!
Reference(s):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_periwinkle