Ephemera - natural history of the Oregon coast

Last updated 5/14/2008

Monty Python Does the Worm

Nye Beach, Newport, Oregon, 24 April 2008

While walking the beach on April 24, I spotted a dog-excavated hole in the sand a little above the tide line, and decided to investigate. Close in, I noticed an attractive 4" (10 mm) long pale polychaete (“many-bristled;” pronounced “poly-keet”) worm with red feeding appendages on the bottom of the pool (photo below). It didn’t move much. I could tell that it was alive because it occasionally wriggled a bit.

Polychaetes are also called paddle-footed worms after the fleshy, paddle-like, bristle-tipped appendages that enable them to move around or anchor themselves in the sand. They feed in many different ways: some are ferocious carnivores, others scavenge or collect detritus from the sediment. From the diffuse nature of its feeding tentacles, I suspect that this one is a detritus feeder.

Polychaetes, along with their relatives the oligochaetes (“few-bristled” worms, including earthworms) and hirudinids (leeches), are segmented worms (phylum Annelida).

Close-up of head end with feeding tentacles

A few yards north of the worm pool, I discovered a 4" (10 mm) wide red rock crab (Cancer productus) lying flush on the sand. I couldn’t tell whether it had lost its legs, like the black knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or whether they were merely mired in the sand.

After photgraphing the crab for a while, I (very carefully) dug it out of the mud with a ruler and determined that it did have legs. It had been unable to move against the powerful grip of the wet sand. Although I had freed it, the crab showed no inclination to run away or go back to the water. It had probably been stranded by the outgoing tide for at least a few hours. Fortunately, the incoming tide was about to overtake it, rehydrating its gills and allowing it (perhaps) to live another day. I’m surprised that the omnipresent gulls hadn’t picked it apart while it was stranded. Perhaps the formidable claws were enough to deter them.

“I move for no man.”

If you aren’t familiar with the Black Knight routine, rent Monthy Python and the Holy Grail, or go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/quotes and search for “black knight.” (There are several different renditions of varying length, so keep searching down the page until you’ve read enough.) It may not be suitable for younger viewers. Parental discretion is advised.

Lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox)

Nye Beach, Newport, Oregon, 14 May 2008

I normally go down to the beach at Yaquina Bay State Park and walk north. Today I decided to take the ramp at Don Davis (City of Newport) Park and go south. This was fortunate because, as I headed down the ramp, I saw something long and skinny wriggling around on the wet sand near the tide line, surrounded by a small group of people. The tide was about to overtake the wriggler, so I hurried to see it. It was a 4' (120 cm) long longnosed lancetfish. The skin of the lancetfish appears irridescent. Its dorsal fin resembles a small sailfish sail. The side of the tail stock is keeled (ridged), as you can see in the lower left photo. The lancetfish has small, sharp teeth in its jaws, and longer, dagger-like teeth in the roof of its mouth. You can see this in the lower right photo, along with the fish’s gorgeous blue eyes.

A well-meaning passerby (left) decided to rescue the fish by dragging it back into the water, although he had been told that others had already tried it and that the fish was too weak to hold its own against the surf. Eventually, he tired of walking it around to aerate its gills and let it go. The surf then battered the fish into nearby rocks (below). Sometimes it is best to let nature take its course. [This photo is “posed” to the extent that it was taken after I pulled the fish out of the water, where it had been jammed between some rocks.]

The formidable teeth should tell you that the lancetfish is a predator. It ranges from the Aleutian islands south to Chile and hunts offshore waters from near the surface to ca. 6000' (1800 meters) deep. According to A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes of North America, by Eschmeyer, Herald, and Hammann, lancetfishes are “rarely encountered; sometimes wash[ing] up on beaches or occasionally caught on halibut longlines or trolling gear.” For more information, see the Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alepisauridae.

Bill Hanshumaker, a marine educator at Hatfield Marine Science Center, tells me that he has heard of five washing up on Northwest beaches since April, an unusually large number. Bill collected this one to use in public education programs.