76 POINT LOBOS RESERVE 



blood star, Henricia, is also found under stones. It has five rays and incu- 

 bates its young. 



In the short-rayed star (Patiria) the body is sometimes rather thick and 

 inflated, sometimes depressed, without sharp distinction between disk and 

 rays, which may be also 4, 6, or 7 instead of the prevalent 5. The color is 

 yellow below ; bright red, dark red, purple, straw-color, blue gray, greenish 

 gray above, or sometimes a mosaic of all of them. 



Among the crabs and crab-like animals of tide pools and the intertidal 

 zone are two shore crabs, Pachygrapsus and Hemigrapsus with squarish 

 shells, which are agile scavengers often hiding by day under stones or in 

 crevices. The first has usually a dark green shell, the second a purplish one, 

 the claws spotted with purple. Under stones will be found the flattened 

 brown, active Petrolisthes with long antennae; and in deeper parts of a 

 pool any of several very sluggish spider crabs, often overgrown with 

 sponges and hydroids. Of the "edible crabs," Cancer productus is most 

 likely to be found. It is striped in youth but dark red when adult. 



Hermit crabs, inhabiting empty mollusk shells, are the clowns of any 

 tide pool. They are active, pugnacious, inquisitive. The commonest has blue 

 tips to the legs, and often lives in turban shells. A large relative of the 

 garden sow bug will be found well above water, foraging on rocks or in 

 crevices. This is the isopod Ligyda Occident alis, its gait unpleasantly 

 reminiscent of the cockroach. On kelps, under stones, and in sand are 

 numerous other isopods, some very small. Among the true shrimps the 

 most amazing is the pistol shrimp which dwells among sponges, kelps, and 

 surf grass, often in very definite tunnels. The thumb of the large mitten- 

 like claw is adapted to snap against the palm. This is the origin of the 

 snapping noises sometimes heard at low tide. 



The most conspicuous of the legion of mollusks is the black abalone 

 found in crannies near low tide mark. It is greenish black on the outside, 

 smooth except for the lines of growth, has 5 to 9 holes and is markedly 

 convex. It is in fact a sort of limpet with multiple keyholes. With the 

 Park's protection, the black abalone is again becoming plentiful at the 

 Point. The red abalone, a larger species, is not common, although during 

 heavy winter storms they are sometimes dislodged and cast ashore. 



True limpets are common. On Conglomerate Point the plate, shield, 

 dingy, rough, and file limpets are found. Shells of the white cap, pure white 

 and conical, are often washed up on the beach. The animals dwell under 

 rocks. Above the limpets in the spray zone are the littorines, already noted. 



In the tide pools the commonest sea snails are the black and brown tur- 

 bans, upward of an inch and a half high, usually aggregated in cracks of 

 the rocks. On the turbans will often be found adhering the slipper shell, 

 Crepidula. The blue top, Calliostoma, is sometimes common. More colorful 

 however are the slugs, or nudibrachs, which are devoid of shell and vary 

 greatly in size and tint. One of the showiest is the yellow to orange sea 

 lemon, Anisodoris, likely to be found among laminarian kelps ; Triopha 

 shows orange marking against white; while the small Ilopkinsia is bright 

 rose. Some of the small aeoHd nudibrachs, under a magnifier, are among 

 the most beautiful of all animals. 



The chitons (ki-tons) or "sea cradles" have the habits of limpets, but 

 instead of a single shell they have eight separate shells, each one perfectly 

 articulated to the next, like a coat of mail. They cling tenaciously to rocks, 



