Ugly Critter Day

We went to the beach today at low tide and found some uglies.

It was a Sand Flea (aka Sand Crab) kind of day.  They were terrifically abundant!  I have shown you these before.

Here is a video of some of the sand fleas we saw in different places.  OK, so a cinematographer I'm not.  But you get a taste of the thousands of sand fleas inhabiting the shore. 



And other uglies:  Gooseneck Barnacles, which look like dragon claws, don't they?

The gooseneck barnacles remind me of a Kevin story.  When he was in Kindergarten, his wonderful teacher, Mrs. W, took the class tidepooling one spring day with the junior high science class of her equally wonderful teacher husband.

Shortly after his field trip, Kevin got to talking to our dinner guest one evening, a Professor of Biology at UCSB, who often taught classes on inter-tidal zones, about the tidepooling trip and the critters he saw.  He described this find, a barnacle with a long stem and craggy features.  Dr. C was pleased that Kevin had learned about acorn barnacles on his trip.

"No, no, not acorn barnacles!" Kindergarten Kevin firmly corrected the professor, "Gooseneck barnacles!"

Prof. C got humble pie for dessert that night!