Northwest Dive Club

Greetings, I'm also guessing rock scallop although it would make more sense if the shell conformed exactly (wrapped around, if you will) to the piling. As to whether a rock scallop would settle on a piling - I don't think they put much thought into the process compared to some other sessile critters...

Hi Jan,

Isn't it also pretty unusual to see even one (let alone two) of these cukes in the open? At the Feiro Center and in the intertidal areas around Port Angeles we don't even see their feeding tentacles from about October through March!

Cryptically yours,

Alex

[quote="Jan K"]Watching the sea stars slowly returning and no new cases of wasting which is a good news. I am seeing Sunflower star recruits at Langley and Holmes Harbor now, but many of them have few of their arms much shorter. I wonder if the grow up same way, or the "shorties"...

Hi Jan, Gorgeous images as always! Here is a minor (=obscure) point that might interest you - I think that the anemones pictured are actually Epiactis lisbethae according to this 1986 paper by Fautin & Chia: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/5371/Fautin%20and%20Chia.1986.pdf?se...

Howdy, OK, this is just idle speculation subject to correction: 1. The parasite shown is of a group commonly referred to as "fish leeches". 2. The fish leeches I've seen have suction cups at either end for attachment and movement; a large one at the tail and a smaller one at the head that ...

Greetings That is a ribbon of poop. At the Feiro Center we see this almost daily from our GPO's. From a good sized animal those things can easily be several feet long and are surprisingly resilient and kind of stretchy - I'd rather not discuss how I know this :eek: The color on this example is sligh...

If you have Greg Jensen's new book (Crabs and Shrimps of the Pacific Coast), Squat Lobsters can be found on page 181 If you have Greg Jensen's older book (Pacific Coast Crabs and Shrimps), they can be found on page 73 If you have neither (why not?) try this site: http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/...

Greetings, On September 18th Jan Kocian noted a sizable patch of stressed and possibly dying benthic animals in the Coupeville area. He first posted about it here in his "Whidbey Island Critters" thread on September 26th. Here is an article on that event written by Dr. Ron Shimek (with ill...

Hi Jan, That's a nasty looking event! It does suggest a few questions: 1. Did you see signs of distress in any animals that don't live in the sediment (fish, crabs, etc.)? 2. In the aftermath did you see any indication that the storm you mentioned had disturbed the sediment? 3. Also in the aftermath...

Greetings,

You might want to take a look at Sells & Shellfish of the Pacific Northwest by Rick Harbo:
http://www.harbourpublishing.com/title/ ... cNorthwest

It has a small section dedicated to photos of clam siphons.

I.D.ally yours,

Alex

Greetings,

According to this news piece from about two weeks ago, researchers are still four or five months away from identifying a cause:
http://www.kionrightnow.com/news/local- ... h/26147770

Impatiently yours,

Alex

Hi Rena, Actually, it must be two eggs (on average) that survive to reproduce - otherwise we would soon be up to our armpits in octopuses! When an organism appears in a suitable environment, its population grows fairly rapidly to a stable point that may be referred to as that environment's carrying ...

Greetings, I agree with Dusty2; it's probably Tritonia festiva but questions remain! You might want to check your photos and memory of the sighting against what can be found here: http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/tritfest If you're not familiar with the Sea Slug Forum, be sure to click on the relate...

Hi Dusty, Thanks for posting this info! The piece you referenced and the Squamish Streamkeepers Society website http://www.squamishstreamkeepers.net/streamkeepers/Herring.html leave me with some concerns though: 1. How will this wrapping affect the inverts that typically call these pilings home? 2. ...

Greetings, Here's a link to a paper by Roland Anderson (Seattle Aquarium) on Stubby Squid: http://dspace.rubicon-foundation.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/10043/AAUS_1987_1.pdf?sequence=1 and the Cephalopod Page description of the species (also by R. Anderson): http://www.thecephalopodpage.org...

Greetings, Are there any data on how this disease progresses in individual animals? At the Feiro Center we have two (of 4 total) Painted Stars ( Orthosterias kohleri ) that are showing arm curling and small lesions. The thing is, they have been 'stuck' on this level of affliction for over a month wi...

Hi Jan,

Re: Your post on Nucella lamellosa- I thought you might enjoy this paper with its alternative explanation for the extra sculpturing on some members of the species:

http://www.pnas.org/content/85/12/4387.full.pdf+html

Protectively yours,

Alex

Greetings, Thanks to everyone that posted background articles on this situation. Here's another one: http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/11/09/disaster-deja-vu-all-over-again/ This one has some history and science that describes why this sucks even if you don't care about the stars. Disasterously yo...

Greetings, Here's a fun article from Ron Shimek on ribbon worms in general and cerebratulids like this in particular: http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/05/29/prince-marvin-of-nemertinea/ Note that the article has a photo of a worm virtually identical to the one shown in this thread. Vermiculturall...

Greetings, There seem to be a lot of Lingcod watchers on this forum; I'm hoping one of you can help me with a question. At the Feiro Center we have two young Lingcod ( Ophidon elongatus ) each in the 18 to 24 inch size range (roughly double the size when we acquired them). Both appear to be healthy ...

Greetings, I'm not sure how or even if this relates to the topic at hand: Several years ago at the Feiro Center we had a mottled star ( Evasterias troscheli ) that developed a problem with one arm - specifically, the arm appeared to be 'withering'. The problem was localized to one arm for a month or...

Greetings,

Big yes; but not so old by rockfish standards - an Alaska fishery lab has determined that the fish in question was a sprightly 64 years old:
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/2 ... er-thought

Youthfully yours,
Alex (age 63)

Hi Jesse, It would take a lot more information to come up with a species or even genus I.D. on your worm. Having said that, it's almost certainly an epitoke (reproductive stage) from an errant polychaete. Here are a couple of threads where epitokes have been discussed: http://www.nwdiveclub.com/view...

Greetings, The study shown in this article is essentially a confirmation of one done about 20 years ago at Saanich Inlet by Jennifer Mather and NWDC forum member Jim Cosgrove. You can read about this and other studies in Jim's book "Super Suckers" and the original papers may be obtainable ...

Greetings, As I was reading Dave's post I couldn't keep from formulating responses - fortunately Kneedeep's link covered everything I had to say and a bit more. Thanks for posting it! Note that the article was mainly concerned with captive animals. My guess is that this sort of thing just doesn't co...