Tag Archives: Purple Urchins

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Roxanne Holmes wrote, “This Sea Star is alive and seems to be doing okay despite missing a couple of ‘legs,’ or whatever they’re called. I check on it every low tide, and it changes position but continues to do well. Do Sea Stars thrive without all their limbs? What destroys or severs their limbs? Will the limbs grow back?”

Bob Van Syoc to the rescue. He looked at Roxanne’s photo and wrote, “Yes!  Sea Stars can regenerate new arms as long as the center disc is intact.  Some can lose all but one arm and survive to regrow the other four arms.  In this state they are called ‘comets’ because of the smaller arms forming the star and the larger arm the ‘tail’ of the comet.  Arms may be lost by injury (crushed by a rock) or by predators attacking them, though our Stars have few predators.”

Here's a photo Roxanne took of a happier sight - two Ochre Stars (yes, they come in different colors!), a Bat Star, Sea Anemone, and several Purple Urchins and more. A kaleidoscope of colors!

Thanks to Roxanne for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

Cool, breezy with dark clouds now and then. More weather headed our way in a couple of days.

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Dash gets around and he loves noticing Nature. At the recent minus tides, Dash pointed out this Abalone which had been left high and kind-of-dry during the low tide event.

The Abalone looked healthy. It was waiting for the tide to return and perhaps bring some kelp for it to eat. I see another Abalone in this photo, under the reddish kelp in the upper right corner.

In the next photo, there is a lot going on! Chris photographed an Abalone with a Crab possibly trying to attack it. A big Ocher Star, Mussels, Purple Urchins, Turban Snails, and a Sea Anemone. Looks like a party, an intertidal party!

And here's a bonus photo of Dash, enjoying the Douglas Iris blooming at Gualala Point Regional Park. This time he was with his dad, John Wall.

Thanks to Chris and John for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

We had rain yesterday late afternoon. 0.15 inches in our rain gauge, 49.70 inches season to date. 50 inches is our average so this is good news for those of us on wells.  Today is sunny but there is a very strong breeze. There is no reason to brush your hair if you are outside today on the windy Mendonoma Coast!