Neptune’s Bounty

Things washed up on Nye Beach

Newport, Oregon

19 November 2008

Monterey Stalked Tunicate

(Styela montereyensis)

Though tunicates , also called sea squirts, are invertebrates, their larvae share certain features ( gill slits and a dorsal stiffening rod called a notochord) with the embryos of vertebrates (the notochord becomes spinal discs in adult vertebrates). As different as they seem, that means that tunicates are closely related to humans (compared with, say, an earthworm or an insect). Many tunicates are colonial, but the Monterey stalked tunicate is a solitary organism. Adults attach to rocks and pilings and filter food from sea water, like clams or oysters, mollusks that are only distantly related to tunicates.

Unidentified Shrimp Molts

?

Staghorn Bryozoan

Heteropora magna

Though this looks a bit like a sponge or a coral, it’s actually a colonial bryozoan, a group of very small organisms living in a calcareous “apartment complex.” Individual bryozoans (“zooids”) have a circular tentacle-bearing organ, called a lophophore, that they use to trap planktonic organisms for food and to absorb oxygen from the water. In the photo at right, you can make out the tiny compartments (dark dots surrounded by light rings) that house the zooids.

Feather Boa Kelp (Egregia menziesii), a brown alga

Turkish Washcloth (Chondracanthus corymbiferus), a red alga.

Sea Lettuce and a Small Branching Pink Coralline Alga on an Unidentified Plant (Ulva sp., Bossiella (?) sp., and ?). Ulva is a green alga, Bossiella is a red alga, and ? is a ?.

Eelgrass with Seagrass Laver Growing Epiphytically on its Margins

Zostera sp. and Smithora naiadum

Eelgrass is a vascular plant, related to land plants. Neither a seaweed nor a true grass, it is related to freshwater plants such as pondweed (Potamogeton sp.) and arrowgrass (Triglochin sp.). Seagrass laver is a red alga, and can be considered a true seaweed. (Caveat: red, brown, and green seaweeds are thought to have evolved separately from single-celled algae, so “seaweed” is an artificial category, lumping together very distantly related organisms.)

Dark Surfgrass and Twisted Sea Tubes Mixed Together?

Phyllospadix sp. and Melanosiphon intestinalis?

Surfgrass is a slender, medium green vascular planted related to eelgrass (see previous panel). Twisted sea tubes is a dark, slender brown alga, a seaweed. The right-hand photo gives a closer view of what appears to be two different kinds of plants intermingled. Subsequently, I have seen isolated strands of surfgrass that are dark for part of their length, so I no longer think that twisted sea tubes is included in these masses. I don't know what causes the dark coloration. Perhaps an epiphytic microbe.

References

Druehl, Louis. 2000. Pacific Seaweeds: A Guide to Common Seaweeds of the West Coast. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing.

Margulis, Lynn, and Karlene V. Schwartz. 1998. Five Kingdoms: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth, 3rd ed. NY: Freeman.

Mondragon, Jennifer, and Jeff Mondragon. 2003. Seaweeds of the Pacific Coast: Common Marine Algae from Alaska to Baja California. Monterey, CA: Sea Challengers.

O’Clair, Rita M., and Sandra C. Lindstrom. 2000. North Pacific Seaweeds. Auke Bay, AK: Plant Press.

Sheldon, Ian. 1998. Seashore of the Pacific Northwest. Renton, WA: Lone Pine Publishing.

Smith, James Payne, Jr. 1977. Vascular Plant Families: An Introduction to the Families of Vascular Plants Native to North America and Selected Families of Ornamental or Economic Importance. Eureka, CA: Mad River Press.

Nettled

Sea nettle jellies on Nye Beach

Newport, Oregon

31 January 2009

The reddest sea nettle I think I've ever seen washed up on Nye Beach. Once of the fresh ones lower down the beach.

© 2008 Terry L. Morse. All rights reserved.