notes from the kelp

There are so many sea anemones here that at low tide that I have to be very careful where I step. These creatures fill every small hole that the water has drilled in the up-facing rocks; more photos of that particular phenomena will be posted soon. I love these animals because they range from being utterly, beautifully open to the world, exposing all their color and vulnerability (as above), to curling into themselves and acquiring a crusty exterior of protective, reflective shell parts from whatever the life-tides have brought in. Like so many of us.

The shield-back kelp crab is another familiar friend who can be spotted gingerly crawling around the surfgrass (aka sea grass, or eel grass, take yer pick) in the low tides, too. Here at Paradise Cove I come across even more of their empty carapaces as I do of them; I’m still trying to figure out if they molt like lobsters, or if the seagulls simply rate them highly on the lunch menu.

…listen
…info about the music

Click on the blue music icon above to hear the second movement from “At the Abyss” titled “Reflect,” to accompany these fragile creatures.

Unlike everything else in this blog and the vast majority of what’s to come, I did not take the two pictures above. I have snapped photos virtually identical to these, except for the fact that they weren’t nearly as good. Sigh. There is a professor of biological sciences at Santa Barbara City College named Genevieve Anderson who takes as much delight in the intertidal zone as I do, and has spent her life discovering its secrets. These pictures are from a terrific paper of hers that I stumbled upon on the web:

http://tinyurl.com/aocar

For any fellow marine-biologist wannabes, enjoy this wonderful introduction. I intend to contact Dr. Anderson and say hello, since it turns out that she works in the neighborhood; the college is directly across from the Santa Barbara harbor. Imagine that. There is something magical about coming across fellow creatures– plant, animal and human– who spend as much time drenched in the same salty water as I do.