Invertebrates

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

Sea slugs, or nudibranchs, are some of my favorite marine animals.  While an undergraduate at UC Davis, I participated in the awesome summer program at Bodega Marine Laboratory and did a research project on these sponge-eating squishies.  I spent many an early morning on hands and knees in the rocky intertidal zone, searching for nuidbranchs to use in my experiment (I was trying to test their movement in response to chemical cues from their sponge prey).  Despite being bright yellow, these buggers can be hard to find, and I often had my boots filled with water from trying to nab them in hard-to-reach crevices.

But occasionally a nudibranch will turn up in an unexpected place, like on a fishing boat!  This little guy got taken for a ride when snagged by an angler’s hook during marine protected area monitoring surveys conducted by the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program.  Though I thought it was quite the catch, we were really after things like rockfishes, so we released it without a tag.  The poor thing had probably experienced enough trauma for one day!

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

This baby red rock crab (Cancer productus), only about an inch wide, still shows some of its bright patterning even after being digested in a gopher rockfish stomach.  Spending more hours than I’d care to admit sifting through fish guts may give one a slightly skewed perspective on the definition of “pretty,” but after identifying so many drab brownish crabs of other species, I found this little guy downright bedazzling.   The color variation in this species is captivating: check out its shocking-white color morph.

How charitable of nature to lend its best colors to both baby crabs and the evening sky.  After hours of staring through the microscope, nothing is more rewarding than stepping out on the back deck of the lab to soak up the amazing view.

This octopus out of water is a strange sight, but it sheds a little light on the common name of the Flapjack Octopus, also known as the Flapjack Devilfish.  These squishy deep-dwelling creatures are the flattest species of octopuses.  You might not recognize her, but a related species of Flapjack Octopus was famously portrayed by the character Pearl in Finding Nemo. One of her tentacles might look a little shorter, but you can’t really tell if she twirls ’em…

These little goobers are called peanut worms, or sipunculids.  Sipunculids are in their own phylum Sipuncula (that’s a pretty high level of taxonomic classification), so while their unsegmented bodies make them look like other marine worms (phylum Annelida), they are not directly related.

Sipunculids are pretty fascinating to watch because they can invert their long proboscis to bunch up (like the little peanut-look-alike on the far left), or extend it by essentially turning inside out.  These specimens were just some of the great diversity of critters I found poking around in a kelp holdfast.  Now the question remains: would you like those salted or unsalted?

As you may know, the water in our streets runs to the ocean.  After diving in Monterey Bay you begin to notice objects that do not belong in the water.  I have found car parts, floats, cans, bottles, plastic bags, Snow White birthday balloons, fishing rods, fishing line, fishing weights, dive flashlights, dive masks and snorkels –  even a SCUBA tank and a full set of gear resting on the ocean bottom in Santa Cruz.  We have come a long way from the mentality that the solution to pollution is dilution.  I would not want trash to end up in my backyard from visitors passing through.  Please remember to pack your trash and treat the ocean with respect.  She gives us so much in the way of food, from fish to algae, means of enjoyment, from surfing to boat rides, and a sunset that the East Coast has nothing on!

Tidepooling is a great way to get outside and get some exercise while getting to know some critters in our backyard.  This Starburst Anemone is one of the amazing and delicate creatures living in the intertidal zone of the ocean.  Remember to be careful where you step because many creatures hide under barnacles and mussels during low tide and are just trying to wait it out until the water returns to them.  It’s best to stick to rocks when exploring this world of cool critters.

I would not be able to give ten of my friends a piggyback ride at once, but maybe I could if they were all very small.  This Black Turban Snail has to deal with a problem plaguing many slow moving animals in the sea: hitchhikers.  These Crepidula Slipper Limpets are taking easy street by attaching to this Turban Snail and feeding on the plankton floating in the water.  Sounds like a good life to me!

By Gillian Rhett, Invertebrate Zoology & Molecular Ecology Lab

If you saw Nate’s post last month, you may have wondered: where does a whale carcass go?  Sometimes it will wash up on a beach, which is lucky for us because that means we can collect all kinds of samples and information that help us learn more about how whales live and die.

But most whale carcasses don’t wash up on beaches.  Initially, the gases that are a byproduct of the decomposition process build up inside the carcass and it floats, providing food for surface-dwelling animals such as seabirds.  But when the remaining tissues and bones sink to the seafloor, that’s not the end of the story!

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