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Fieldtrip to Abalone Cove, Palos Verdes, Los Angeles Co., CA, February 6, 2009 (Return to Field Trip Image Index)
Also see Optional Trip to Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve and Pacific Valley, southern Big Sur coastline, Monterey Co., CA, February 7-8, 2009

We drove through rain to and from sunny Abalone Cove: The Streak lives on.	Lots of mud and unstable cobbles	Ivan and Eric
Gulls were foraging	Good tide but rough conditions	Janelle and Oscar
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Image Caption	Image Caption	Exposed mid zone dominated by Mytilus californianus and Pollicipes polymerus. Lower we saw Anthopleura xanthogrammica, which is rare in the intertidal of southern California.
Waves were intense	Image Caption	The scaled wormsnail (Serpulorbis squamigerus) is very common suspension-feeding snail in the low zone.
Pagurus hirsutiusculus	Image Caption	Lottia limatula, the file limpet, was the most common limpet on the sides and undersides of low zone rocks.
Cyanoplax hartwegii, Hartweg's chiton	Lepidozona pectinulata is common on the underside of rocks in the low zone	L. pectinulata has pronounced sculpturing on its valves (shell plates) and scales on its girdle
Field observations	Nick	Ally
Diego	Oscar	Image Caption
Anthopleura sola is the most abundant anemone in the low zone.	A. sola with the seastar, Pisaster ochraceus	Probably Lottia pelta ("southern") on the feather boa kelp, Egregia menziesii. Note how the limpet had a more typical L. pelta coloration when it was small and probably living on rocks. The black younger shell reflects its shift to the kelp habitat.
L. pelta ("southern")	L. pelta ("southern")	L. pelta ("southern") or L. insessa. The latter species is a specialist living only on E. menziesii. Dr. Eernisse's lab is studying these two species in California with molecular, morphological, field comparisons.
L. pelta ("southern" or L. insessa	The bat star, Patiria miniata	The ochre seastar, Pisaster ochraceus, with purple urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
Student Challenge: Can you identify this and the following brittle stars?	Image Caption	Image Caption
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Lottia limatula	Cyanoplax keepiana (Keep's chiton), which is variable in its color, is common under small rocks in the most protected (cliffside) tidepools	Until next week

Return to Biology 317 Fieldtrip Map or Bio 317 Field Marine Biology Home Page
Also see Optional Trip to Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve and Pacific Valley, southern Big Sur coastline, Monterey Co., CA, February 7-8, 2009