Intertidal Zone

The tides increase as you approach the Bay of Fundy. While the average difference between high and low is five feet here in NYC, it’s 10 feet in Maine. This means the state’s rocky shore is full of tidal pools, pockets of water temporarily abandoned as the tide pulls away. Such places are ripe with life. I must give all credit here to guide Gabriel Willow, who rolled over rocks, poked around, and fished up specimens as I snapped photographs. Here’s a Nudibranch. These marine gastropods have a shell in their larval stage, but as adults look more like slugs, albeit remarkable colorful and patterned ones. This looks like the a Red-gilled nudibranch, Flabellina pellucida, to me. Size is about 15mm. I’d never seen one in the wild before. Two sea urchins, a thumbnail-sized sea star/starfish, and the eggs (?) of something or other.Another sea star. The…