Salt Point

 

Along the Bluffs at Salt Point, Sonoma County

I've been to Salt Point for the mushrooms, the wildflowers, and the tafoni, but I'd never been there before to check out the tidepools. This morning I finally scratched that one off my list, and I was kind of blown away at first. There was no path to the pools, so you had to figure out how to scramble down there on your own -- a plus for the "wild" factor of the place. I was also the only one there, although a handful of people hiked by on the bluffs above.

When I finally got down to the pools I was struck by the wealth of mussel and abalone shells, and especially the countless sea urchin tests. And just past that, the great numbers of live purple sea urchins themselves. It seemed like a gold mine of tidepool action.

But my awe subsided like an outgoing tide when it struck me that there were too many purple sea urchins. These are the guys who are eating up all the kelp forests.

There were also lots of healthy looking ochre sea stars and my favorites, the bat stars -- one which appeared to be an amalgam of two stars. A feather duster worm and a black abalone were also interesting finds, but I saw zero nudibranchs. I didn't even get a picture of one of the coolest things I saw -- clam siphons (like this) pumping water in shallow pools. I should have recorded some video.

While I was looking for a way down the bluffs to the tidepools I stopped to appreciate the beautiful morning.

This is what lay at my feet after clambering down the boulders to the edge of the tidepools.

This little bat star had formed itself into a mussel shell.

This one was taking a different approach.

Maw of the Anemone

Sea Urchin Tests

The tidepools were beautiful, but I didn't see much life in them other than urchins. What the urchins were finding to eat, I don't know.

Red-trumpet Calcareous Tubeworm (Serpula columbiana).

There were only a few red sea urchins among all the purple ones.

Mutant Bat Star

There were several abalones stuck to rocks in the intertidal zone.

After finishing up with the tidepools I climbed back up the bluffs to find some tafoni formations to photograph.

Earth Brodiaea

Tidy Tips

Sea Pink Meadow on the Bluffs

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