Sea Urchins 



Oystercatcher 



ver perch, silversides and killifish that 

 swim in wading waters. Visible from 

 above as a flash or a shadow, these 

 underwater moving targets are much 

 too fast for young hands or a bucket to 

 catch. 



Beyond the shallows, you can find 

 sand dollars and starfish living near 

 sandy, offshore spits. Most people 

 know them best as the bleached skel- 

 etons that they gather from the beach 

 for jewelry and decorations. 



When alive, however, the cookie- 

 shaped sand dollar plows slowly under 

 loose sand on the ocean floor using its 

 brown-green velvety spines for loco- 

 motion. As it walks, tubes tipped with 

 suction discs move organic particles 

 and animals into its central mouth. 

 The chewing apparatus, called a 

 "peace dove" for its dovelike appear- 

 ance, is the remnant that rattles when 

 its skeleton is shaken. 



The five-legged starfish, another 

 bottom dweller, uses hundreds of tiny 

 tubelike feet on its underside to travel 

 over sand. When it comes across a 

 meal, such as a clam or oyster, it 

 wraps its arms around the prey, pries 



open the shell and everts its stomach. 

 It digests the soft parts and draws its 

 stomach back in. You can see its kin- 

 ship to the sand dollar in the five- 

 rayed pattern they have in common. 



Yet another kinship in these wa- 

 ters is shared by the crustaceans, the 

 seaside equivalent of insects. 



This comparison to insects is es- 

 pecially true for shrimp, which were 

 once called "bugs" by coastal residents 

 and not widely eaten. Today the most 

 consumed seafood in the United 

 States, certain species of shrimp can 

 be found in the shallows from early 

 summer to fall. 



Its subtidal neighbor, the blue 

 crab, is also likely to end up on a din- 

 ner plate. Olive-green with blue claws 

 and legs, it can crawl across the bot- 

 tom, swim rapidly or burrow into the 

 sandy bottom for protection. The fe- 

 male is distinguished by her red-tipped 

 claws. The blue crab is a scavenger 

 and capable predator, feeding on small 

 fish, shrimp and other crabs. Though it 

 can be found off the beach, it spends 

 most of its life in the brackish water of 

 estuaries. 



The surf equivalent of the blue 

 crab is the look-alike speckled crab, 

 which can be distinguished by the 

 flecked pattern on its shell. An oppor- 

 tunistic feeder, the speckled crab 

 moves up with high tide to prey on 

 mole crabs and coquina clams. It is 

 also a good swimmer and catches fish 

 whenever it can. 



These crabs share the subtidal 

 zone with the horseshoe crab, which is 

 not really a true crab or even a crusta- 

 cean. Its closest living relative is a spi- 

 der, which is evident when you look at 

 the jointed legs under its armor. Up- 

 right, it looks like a crushed helmet 

 with a serrated tail. But don't let this 

 creature's ominous appearance or 

 name startle you. It's harmless. It ven- 

 tures ashore from its home in the shal- 

 lows to mate in early summer and to 

 leave fertilized eggs in the sand. It then 

 returns to its daily task of plowing 

 through bottom sand and mud, feeding 

 on mollusks, crustaceans, worms and 

 other small animals. 



A likelier threat to swimmers is 

 the jellyfish, a pulsing, translucent in- 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 7 



