Whidbey Island Critters

[Scott G]

Yeah, I have no idea...

I've ID'd a Aleutian and another (tranparent maybe?) moon snail in the past, both were from ~600' depth... and i think thats where they most probably live... however, on vague remembrence's they look roughly like yours.... kind of pinkish and dainty.

I think the ID was related to the opercular aperture...

Anyway, i would still agree with your ID primarily, but just wondered... I have some books i can check monday.

again, cool find,
Scott

[defied]

Wow, I just saw an adult moon snail yesterday at Les Davis, and was wondering what it was. Lo and behold, there's a pic up when I got home... Awesome!

D(B)

[WylerBear]

I didn't know we had any other moonsnails in this area at recreational depths.

[defied]

I didn't know we had any other moonsnails in this area at recreational depths.

I have no idea, that's probably why it caught my eye. It was sitting there on the bottom, maybe around 30fws. I was eyeballing it because I thought it was a white anenome all chewed up, but then I saw that is seemed more like a big slug than remains. I saw the (antennae?) poking out, and stopped to check it out. Then I moved on, and didn't think about it until I saw the picture in this thread.

D(B)

[dwashbur]

We saw our first Lewis' moonsnail at Sund Rock while doing our AOW about 3 years ago. The official dive was "underwater naturalist," which in this case meant "I need a specialty dive for these guys to do so I'll pull this out of my butt." When I asked what an Underwater Naturalist dive was, the instructor's wife said "That's where you go down and look at critters, then come back up and ask him what they were." We said, okay, we can do that, so we did. We found at least half a dozen critters that we took (very bad, newbie-type) pictures of, and when we asked him what they were we learned that at least half a dozen critters at Sund Rock are called "Idunno." The moonsnail was one of them. Be thankful all over again that you have this group to help you along in your critter knowledge!!!!!!!!

[Jan K]

Thanks Greg for your input, it would be interesting to see if your books reveal the true identity of the small snail.
At least, we know the name of this one, although it too is sometimes confusing, going from Metridium giganteum, to misnome Metridium senile in latin to White metridium, Frilled anemone, Giant metridium .... in common names.
The shrinking anemone:

[Jan K]

Glad you like them
Anemones create some interesting objects when they deflate ...They sure don't resemble the
"normal" animal...

[Greg Jensen]

Harbo's shellfish book has this small, brown-spotted moonsnail as 'Arctic moonsnail' Euspira pallida; Lamb's book has it as the 'Aleutian moonsnail Cryptonatica aleutica. Lamb's is newer so probably more up to date on the taxonomy. These have a thick, calcareous operculum while our usual common Lewis's moonsnail has a thin, flexible brown operculum.

[Jan K]

Harbo's shellfish book has this small, brown-spotted moonsnail as 'Arctic moonsnail' Euspira pallida; Lamb's book has it as the 'Aleutian moonsnail Cryptonatica aleutica. Lamb's is newer so probably more up to date on the taxonomy. These have a thick, calcareous operculum while our usual common Lewis's moonsnail has a thin, flexible brown operculum.

Greg, thank you very much for your help. I am always happy to add new critter to my list. Maybe the cold weather we are having is bringing down some of the "arctic" species And since Cardiver found one also, maybe we will see now more of them...

[Jan K]

It is sure great to have experts helping out with ID. First Scott G allerted us about the possibility this was probably not a baby Lewis's moonsnail and today we got confirmation from Greg. So back to the drawing board and correct the page. So fellow NWDC divers, look for the mottled foot and don't be fooled by the similarity as I was.
ALEUTIAN MOONSNAIL added to my list:

[Jan K]

Another one to add to my list of new critters found. Very small, living in the muck of Lagoon Point canal. With the help of Leslie who helped to ID it for me (thanks again).

[dwashbur]

Jan,
Can you define "very small" a little more precisely? I'm wondering if I've seen any of these

[Jan K]

Jan,
Can you define "very small" a little more precisely? I'm wondering if I've seen any of these

half inch, which for my old eyes equals "very small". The book (Lamb's) says up to 3 inches long .

[Dusty2]

Dave I'm pretty sure you have because they are present at Les Davis and I know you have done it allot. They are usually down on the sides of the slabs near the bottom and kind of remind me of angles.

[dwashbur]

Thanks to both of you. I would have looked it up but all my books are packed; we head back west bright and early tomorrow morning!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEEEHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

I thought they looked a lot like some worms we've seen elsewhere, and especially at Les Davis. Now I know what to call them!

[Jan K]

Another critter of the muck. And another slug to add to my list. It was a chance encounter as I was swimming over the muddy bottom in less the 5 foot visibility at the end of dive, returning to my entry point when I spotted a dark dot on light colored mud. So I stopped and got off one shot before the water turbulance reached us and lifted the small (about 10mm) slug and whirled it around. Point and shoot, trying to get second shot, well, not well focused. Of course the fine mud provided a great cover for the critter and I did not get another chance. Well, maybe next time..

[LCF]

Jan, you're a treasure.

On my dive last night, I saw two kinds of tubeworms that I recognized, simply because of your beautiful photographs and text. Reading these pages enriches all my dives. Thank you again for the work you put into doing this!

[Zen Diver]

It is sure great to have experts helping out with ID. First Scott G allerted us about the possibility this was probably not a baby Lewis's moonsnail and today we got confirmation from Greg. So back to the drawing board and correct the page. So fellow NWDC divers, look for the mottled foot and don't be fooled by the similarity as I was.
ALEUTIAN MOONSNAIL added to my list:

Jan, I've seen those too, at both Redondo and 3 Tree, and just assumed they were wee Lewis' Moon Snails. Who knew? Very cool!

-Valerie

[Jan K]

Jan, I've seen those too, at both Redondo and 3 Tree, and just assumed they were wee Lewis' Moon Snails. Who knew? Very cool! -Valerie

Now I saw four of them on my last dive in Holmes Harbor. Helps to get familiar with the critter. But all of them were very small, maybe little over half inch, so now, after I finally invested into corrected lenses in my mask, I am seeing more of the small stuff... Now I need camera which will focus on that small stuff better then my old Olympus..
Anyway, here is a worm I found on the same dive on Friday, thanks to Leslie who told me it is still an undescribed species, but she got some at Friday Harbor, so hopefully soon they will have their own scientific name.. I want to thank her for all the help she is giving us divers in identifying marine creatures we come across on our dives. And she is not even a certified diver! So once again, THANK YOU LESLIE !

[Scubak]

Jan,
You never cease to amaze me!
Your photos and collages are fantastic!
As for the worm in the previous pic....How cool is that? It should be Jans' xxxxworm
And thanks for clarifying the Aluetian (sp) snail...too cool!
Thanks again. I get an education everytime with you and your pics.
Kirsten

[Zen Diver]

I love the Leslie cartoon! But more of the centiped-y worms.... eeeeuuuuwwwww!!!! They are the one critter around here that really creep me out.

-Valerie

[dwashbur]

Not trying to hijack, but it seems to me that since she already has such a massive level of knowledge, we need to get Leslie certified so we can go enjoy it all with her!!!!!!!!

[Jan K]

Finally, found the Cloud sponges close enough to be included in Whidbey Critters. Saturday was a perfect day to search for them, as the seas were smooth and sun was shining. I know for many of you Cloud sponges are an old hat, but for my buddy Todd and I, what a treat. Down in 92 feet the visibility was about 30 feet, so we had no trouble finding them, once we were in the right area. I had some issues with my strobe (isn't it always that way?) and I would like to spent more time with some of the clusters. Since it was our first, exploratory dive, we clicked here and there and kept going. Since some of the sponges show signs of breakage, I wonder if it might be caused by downrigger lead weights as this is a very favorite fishing spot. Plenty of small boats trawling here on Saturday... And so another critter is added to my personal list

[Grateful Diver]

Fantastic! Cloud sponges are one of the reasons I wanted to get into doing deeper dives ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[LCF]

Cloud sponges are one of the reasons I wanted to get into doing deeper dives ...

Me, too!

Jan, you've done it again -- even after my reading about cloud sponges before our Saanich Inlet trip, I still didn't know that their soft tissue was a syncytium. I always learn something from your pages!