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Beachcombing

Beachcombing. Maia McGuire, PhD Sea Grant Extension Agent. Beach zones. Dune Berm/backshore Wrack line/strand line Foreshore Swash zone Nearshore/breaker zone Offshore. High tide I I Low tide Subtidal. Backshore. Ghost crabs. Wrack line.

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Beachcombing

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  1. Beachcombing Maia McGuire, PhD Sea Grant Extension Agent

  2. Beach zones • Dune • Berm/backshore • Wrack line/strand line • Foreshore • Swash zone • Nearshore/breaker zone • Offshore High tide I I Low tide Subtidal

  3. Backshore • Ghost crabs

  4. Wrack line • Often created during storm events • Seaweed, debris • Amphipods (beach hoppers) • Sea beans, seashells • Other “treasures”

  5. Sea beans • www.seabean.com • Any of a number of seeds that are adapted to germinate even after spending a period of time floating in water • Mostly from tropical plants, many from vines

  6. Seashells • Phylum Mollusca • Class Gastropoda • Classes Monoplacophora, Polyplacophora (primitive) • Class Bivalvia • Class Scaphopoda (tusk shells) • Class Cephalopoda

  7. Mollusks • Generally have muscular foot, calcareous shell secreted by the mantle, feeding organ called radula • Larvae are often planktonic veligers www.pbs.org www.seaslugforum.net

  8. Gastropods • “Snails” • Head with eyes on tentacles • Usually relatively active/mobile • Usually coiled shell into which animal can retreat • Includes sea slugs • Grazers or predators

  9. Egg collar Moon snail (“shark’s eye”) Operculum (“trap door”)

  10. Bivalves • Shell has 2 (hinged) valves • Adapted to burrow in soft sediments • Most are filter-feeders • May be attached (cement, byssal threads), burrowers/borers or free swimming

  11. Cephalopods • Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish, Nautilus, Spirula www.manandmollusc.net

  12. Other “treasures”

  13. Crab shells • Moult or dead? (i.e. will it stink when I get it home?) • Male or female?

  14. Polychaete worm casings/tubes

  15. Sea anemones

  16. Sand dollar/keyhole urchin

  17. Purple sea urchin

  18. Margined Sea Star Astropectenarticulatus Sea Stars Common Sea Star Asterias forbesi?

  19. Sea cucumbers

  20. Mermaid’s purse (egg case of clearnose skate)

  21. Stingray barb

  22. Jellyfish www.enature.com • Portuguese man-o-war • Don’t touch! • Associated companions—”By-the-wind sailor”, “blue buttons”, purple sea snail, man-o-war slug, man-o-war fish www.amonline.net.au

  23. Cannonball jellyfish www.jaxshells.org

  24. Moon jellyfish www.jaxshells.org

  25. Swash zone

  26. Live critters • Coquinas • Augers • Mole crabs www.jaxshells.com

  27. Sharks’ teeth

  28. Marine Debris • PLASTICS!!!

  29. Synthetic Sea

  30. Sand To see a world in a grain of sandand a heaven in a wildflower,hold infinity in the palm of your handand eternity in an hour.William Blake

  31. Where does sand come from? • Erosion of rocks (on land) • NE Florida sand is silica-based; comes mostly from mountains of NC • Formed by marine plants/animals • Shells, sea urchins, etc. • Corals • Calcareous algae (macro- and microscopic)

  32. Sand colors http://www.paccd.cc.ca.us/instadmn/physcidv/geol_dp/dndougla/SAND/SANDHP.htm

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