Tag Archives: Pebble Beach

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Amy Ruegg found a mass of golden eggs of an unusual fish at an low tide.

She wrote, “What a beautiful morning and a nice minus tide at Pebble Beach! There were lots of the usual culprits like Bat Stars, Purple Urchins, Abalone, Anemones and Chitons. This, however, was a pretty surprise. INaturalist says they are the eggs of the Plainfin midshipman, which would be exciting enough, but when googling this species, I find out they have three sexes! Female, male I and male II.”

Amy also learned this batrachoid toadfish is bioluminescent and they make a humming sound that nearby humans can hear. Amazing!

Thanks to Amy for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

It's a glorious day on the Mendonoma Coast - sunny and in the low 70s with no wind!

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Just look at this beauty - a six-legged, small, nearly translucent Sea Star. Marilyn Green photographed it at the most recent low tide at Pebble Beach off The Sea Ranch.

Here's what intertidal zone expert, Robert Van Syoc, had to say about this Star.

"This is a very interesting star, and a rare find on our part of the coast. According to Prof. Sarah Cohen at San Francisco State University, who is an expert on this group of stars, it's a member of a ‘species complex’ of three species distinguished by differences in their DNA, but not yet easily identifiable to species-level by obvious morphological characteristics.

“Formerly, all three species were known as Leptasterias hexactis, a smallsix-armed star. Currently, Prof. Cohen considers true Leptasterias hexactis to be the most northern of the three species, ranging from Alaska south to Washington State.  The remaining two species of Leptasterias are most common further south in California, uncommonly found this far north.  So, it would appear that Marilyn has photographed a currently undescribed species of Leptasterias!  Keep your eyes open for more, please!”

As Amy Ruegg often photographs in the intertidal zone, I sent her Marilyn's photo and it turns out Amy photographed this type of Star last year, off Pebble Beach. One of its legs is mostly underneath the center of the Star. Bob agrees it's probably the same species as Marilyn's find.

Bob sent in some fascinating information about these Stars. He wrote, “Another important aspect of Leptasterias biology is that they are ‘brooders,’ that is they do not have planktonic larvae, but keep their developing offspring on ‘Mom’ until they ‘walk away’ as tiny versions of the adults.  This limits their ability to re-colonize distant areas after the Sea Star wasting disease of 2015 in our area.  Hence, the slow re-establishment of Leptasterias on our part of the coast…and our excitement at seeing them again.”

How great is this? At the next low tide, perhaps you will find one of these rare Stars.

Thanks to Marilyn and Amy for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

It's a stunning day - warm with no wind. But the forecast has it cooling off, big time! For today, I'm enjoying the sunshine and the 70 degree temps. It's not really winter today!

 

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Amy Ruegg had a rare sighting and a touching experience recently. She wrote, “Sydney [the dog] and I visited Pebble Beach  an hour or two before sunset. The tide was fairly low and several sea creatures were visible. We shared the beach with only one other, a young woman by herself. She had stopped and was looking very closely at something as I approached. She excitedly pointed at the water’s edge—a squid! There it was about six inches long, swimming along looking up at us with a surprising intelligence. We couldn’t believe it!"

“We chatted as we took pictures with our phones and enjoyed watching the lovely creature zip up and down with the wave action. She introduced herself, Pam, and shared she was on a solo journey to nourish herself after her husband filed for divorce. She said she almost drove past the beach access but something told her to turn around. She was entranced by the beauty and abundance of life on Pebble Beach. The squid kept looking up at us. I felt the special little squid was trying to tell her that magic happens! She was on the right path. It’s not just the sightings that bring us joy, but the deeply meaningful moments when Nature speaks to us like a guardian angel.”

I do believe there is great healing in Nature. From walks in the forest, which is sometimes referred to as forest bathing, to an encounter with a special squid, there is comfort to be had.

After searching my database for a previous squid sighting, I came up empty. This is the first squid sighting in the 17 years of writing my Mendonoma Sightings column in the Independent Coast Observer! I sent Amy’s photo to Bob Van Syoc. He wrote, “ Wow, that’s a very special sighting.  It’s Doryteuthis opalescens, sometimes called the market squid here.  I think the name “opalescens” is more descriptive of them in life as they can neurologically activate chromatophores (color and light producing areas) on their skin to  produce pulsating waves of color and light up and down their bodies!  One of the most captivating things I’ve seen was pairs of mating squid making those lovely color and light patterns.  The females lay finger-sized capsules of eggs masses in bunches after mating.  Like all cephalopods, they die soon after mating and reproducing a single time.  Doryteuthis opalescens does tend to reside further south, they are common around Monterey Bay.  But it’s not unheard of for them to show up on our coast.  Thanks for sharing the photos and the special experience Amy had with her new friend.”

This squid’s other common name is Opalescent Inshore Squid, which I’ve chosen to use rather than Market Squid.

Thanks to Amy for allowing me to share her photos with you here. What a great sighting!

Today is sunny, warm and calm, ie, no wind! This is forecast to be the warmest day of the next seven days. The Pacific Ocean looks to be flat calm, which can be deceptive, I know.

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Amy Ruegg photographed a recent sunset at Pebble Beach, on The Sea Ranch.

Amy also found Oyster mushrooms.

And Scott Mercer found a King Bolete, boletus edulis, in his yard.

I heard that Catherine Miller found her first King Bolete this morning, along with the first Yellow Chanterelle. A combination of some rain (.14 inches at our place early Friday morning, and some heavy fog earlier in the week, seem to have prompted the first bloom of choice, edible mushrooms. Hooray!

Thanks to Amy and Scott for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

The ground is damp, the sun is out and the temps this afternoon are in the high sixties. Perfect!

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Marilyn Green was prepared with a piece of paper and a penny, as perspective is important. Her mission was to find the tiniest shells and photograph them.

They are quiet beautiful, aren't they? Marilyn didn't keep them; she returned them to the beach, perhaps to be discovered by a child.

Thanks to Marilyn for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

Once again the fog has draped itself over the Mendonoma coast. It is, of course, sunny when you head eastward a bit, but for many of us fog is what we have woken up to today. Yesterday, the sun came out on the immediate coast around noon. With the car show happening at the Gualala Arts Center, I was happy for them that the fog cleared. LOTS of vintage cars in town and LOTS of car fans too.