Invertebrates!!

Here are just a few quick pics of some interesting invertebrates I've encountered. I found most of them while tide-pooling.

This large brown slug was crawling up the driveway in the rain.

These mussels are filtering the water in a shallow tide pool.

This small sea star feeds on barnacles. A sea star's mouth is located underneath, in the center of all of its legs. They expel their stomachs and digest their prey outside of their bodies, allowing them to go after prey that is much larger than their mouth.

These tiny urchins enjoy some nearby algae. They too have a mouth located underneath of their body, and are closely related to the sea star.

I found some brightly colored anemones in some of the tide pools. Have you ever touched an anemoe and felt how sticky it is? This is actually because they are launching microscopic harpoons into your skin, called nematocysts. These usually contain toxins and are used to paralyze small prey. The skin on our fingertips is much too thick for the anemones to penetrate, so they just feel sticky to us. Anemones are related to sea jellies, which also have stinging nematocysts.

 

That's all for now! Enjoy the pictures!