Well, a bigger starfish…
Then again, I’d say it has to be a starfish for everyone…
We had a wonderful time at the beach yesterday. It was eerily quiet. The water was like glass. It was cloudy, but warm, and we were there for nearly three hours. As you can see, there was an abundance of starfish. I wish I could post all 120 pictures I took. They were everywhere. As were many other animals.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we’re looking at some sea urchin.
(on the dock, not the big starfish in the backgound), and a blue heron.
On our dock. While we were on it. There were actually two, but this is the one I got before they flew away.
It was on the dock for quite awhile, but at the time, the girls were actively investigating a hermit crab clinging to the mussels on the side of the dock, while their hands were full of starfish.
Anxiously watching them lean out over the water with their hands full was taking most of my attention, then the birds flew away.
After awhile, we made use of our buckets,
then did the responsible thing (although not without protests and lamenting), and released the starfish back into the canal.
Next, we found and tormented little rock crabs.
Like I said, there’s oodles more to show, but as it is, my allotted amount of bandwidth is in danger. I’d better stop. I don’t have any pictures of Cable-Eight yet. And next you hear from me, I’ll be home. But what a wonderful vacation it’s been!
August 18th, 2005 at 2:44 am
Seems like everyone is having a great time!
August 18th, 2005 at 2:51 am
Oh fun! Starfish! I’m not sure if that was a sea urchin, or a weird type of sea moss, but yay! Starfish.
Can’t wait to see the Cable 8 tomorrow!
August 19th, 2005 at 11:33 pm
Looks like you had a wonderful time. I miss living in Florida and getting to see all the see creatures all the time
August 21st, 2005 at 12:13 pm
It’s hard to tell from the photo, but I think it’s an anenome on the dock – if the “arms” were fluid and waving around (which is what it looks like in the photo). If they were more like hardened spines, it was probably an urchin.
The starfish in that photo looks a lot like a brittle star (see http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/invertebrates/echinoderm/Brittlestar.shtml), but it might just be the distortion of the water…
Anyway, fun times with the invertebrates!
August 21st, 2005 at 2:51 pm
Thanks! You’re probably right about the anemone. I followed the link to the brittle stars, and it said that they are usually under an inch in diameter. The animal in the photo was well over a foot in diameter including the legs. Probably over six inches in the central body itself. It was several feet below the surface of the water.
August 21st, 2005 at 8:12 pm
Great Pictures. I am happy that you are enjoying your stay so much.
Have Fun
Barbara