Another Corynactis californica, this one strawberry icecream rather than orange sorbet. Colour is variable (lavender, pink, red, orange) and cameras lie, especially with low light photos through water in undersea exhibits, so I set the tips of the tentacles to white and adjusted the brightness to taste.
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02397]
Reflections on Corynactis californica. Despite its name it is a Corallimorph, having more in common with stony corals than with sea anemones. It glows under UV light forming a ring pattern inviting unsuspecting prey in for dinner.[1] In the deep where the sun doesn't shine this kind of display is all there is to see.
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02363]
[1] Schnitzler, et al. (2008). Spectral diversity of fluorescent proteins from the anthozoan Corynactis californica. Marine Biotechnology, 10(3), pp.328-342. DOI: 10.1007/s10126-007-9072-7
Like sardines in a cannery.* I don't know what sleep looks like when you are constantly swimming against the current.
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02319]
* The Hovden Cannery closed in 1973 when the sardine populations collapsed. It was converted to the Monterey Bay Aquarium a decade later.
Standing on a crust of coralline algae dotted with orange cup anemone, this spot prawn surveys his/her domain. Curiously, most start life as "he", spawn once around age 3, then spend their remaining 4-8 years as "she" (protandric hermaphrodites).
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02316]
Another rockfish, this one hanging out with a fish-eating anemone (?) and an abalone. Not to worry: it eats small fish.
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02281]
One of 50+ species of rockfish in California, this one is hanging out at the bottom of the kelp forest with a black surfperch in the background.
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02260]
Another cephalopod, this one displaying a dazzling array of patterns on its mantle. Muscles control the opening and closing of individual colour patches giving them a pixel canvas. Of course, give a guy a pencil and he will draw a penis. Called "accentuated gonads", the squid will adjust its colour until its sex organs appears bright white on its mantle indicating interest in sex. Depending on species, a female might draw fake male bits to dissuade unwanted male attention, or a male might draw female bits to cause a rival male to waste sperm.
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02488]
The octopus was quite active when we were there zooming around the tank exploring all the corners. Still no way out…
The female is semalparous, mating once, laying hundreds of thousands of eggs then watching over them without leaving until she starves to death a few months later. Males survive 3-5 years in the wild, breeding over several seasons (iteroparous).
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02300]
Mostly stomach, they sift through the water with their tentacles and bring food to their mouth to swallow whole. They are both male and female at the same time (simultaneous hermaphrodites). With 30,000 eggs per batch you would hope that we might find at least one of them in a pool at low tide but we didn't see any.
2022-03-11 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA [DSC02373]
Setting over Manhattan from Brooklyn, bye-bye sun!
2022-05-21 Brooklyn, New York [20220521_195828391]
Some more white, these Dimorphotheca ecklonis(?) flowers are naturalized citizens of California. Their South African homeland has a similar climate, so the move is easy.
2022-03-10 Spyglass Beach, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01905]
And some natural lack of colour: coral bleached by the sun. The calcified deposits are joined by bendy bits allowing it to anchor near the shore and dance in the waves. A clearly beneficial adaptation, if you don't have a rock to cling to then build your own! These structures evolved independently at least three times.
2022-03-10 Spyglass Beach, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01737]
More colour at Spyglass Beach, this time man-made rather than natural. Though it's not clear that modern Bougainvillea counts as natural…
2022-03-10 Spyglass Beach, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01898]
Sitting on a bougainvillea this black phoebe is enjoying the afternoon sun. Given how urban they are (#5 in California iNaturalist observations of birds) I would think that it was hanging around waiting for bits of my sandwich but they are insectivores. Maybe that's why there are no flies and wasps hanging around the picnic tables?
2022-03-10 Spyglass Park, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01697]
Although he doesn't show it, there is a patch of green on his wings that is visible when he flies.
2022-03-10 Oso Flaco Lake, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01676]
This pretty weed from South Africa (Oxalis pes-caprae) found a lovely home in California. First introduced in the 1960s, it spreads slowly underground but is hard to eradicate. Now it is the most common wood sorrel reported on iNaturalist.
2022-03-10 Oso Flaco Lake, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01495]
Showing off its pied bill. Interesting behaviours: they can adjust buoyancy, lowering their body so only their eyes and beaks are above the water; they hold their chicks under their wings when they dive; they build floating nests.
2022-03-10 Oso Flaco Lake, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01405]
Some geese taking off over the marsh on a misty morning. I hope they don't hurt themselves when they crash into the frame.
2022-03-10 Pismo Marsh, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01281]
Another willow, another bushtit, this one showing off his coal black eyes.
2022-03-14 Mountain Lake Park, San Francisco, CA [DSC03681]
Bushtit in pussy willow, her sex shown by her pale golden eyes.
2022-03-10 Pismo Marsh, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01310]
The meadows above the beach provide plenty of insects for the phoebe to scoop out of the air.
2022-03-09 Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, CA [DSC01086]
See sea lion lyin' in the sun.
2022-03-09 Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, CA [DSC01045]
The star of this tide pool, bedecked in orange with white bead highlights. They vary in colour from red to purple. This is a keystone species. Without them the intertidal zone will become overrun with mussels.
2022-03-09 Leo Carrillo Beach, Malibu, CA [DSC00979]
In this tide pool garden a couple of herbivores graze on the green algae under the waving coralline algae fronds. The California spiny chiton in front is a mollusc of class Polyplacophora meaning multi-plate bearing. The volcano keyhole limpet (Fissurella volcano) behind is a mollusc of class Gastropoda meaning stomach foot.
2022-03-09 Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, CA [DSC00983]
A form of red alga, it grows hard shell plates with bendy bits between so that it can undulate in the waves.
2022-03-09 Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, CA [DSC00985]
This crab wasn’t fast enough.
2022-03-10 Spyglass Beach, Pismo Beach, CA [DSC01843]
Another tide-pool denizen, this one a little faster moving. Good thing, too, since it has to scuttle into cracks and crevices when danger lurks above.
2022-03-09 Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, CA [DSC00959]
One of the creatures from the tide pools of California, this anemone was happy to perform, pulling its tentacles to its mouth when anything touched them. The green comes from symbiotic algae which provide oxygen in exchange for food. It's a harsh environment, going from cool water to a small sun-drenched pool, possibly drying out before the waves from the next tide come crashing down.
2022-03-09 Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, CA [DSC008718]
A song sparrow keeping warm on a cool morning (9 C according to historic data at worldweatheronline.com).
2021-03-23 Bethesda, MD [DSC08297]
Like any good alarm system, wrens are loud and sensitive to any intruders. Follow the noise and you may find a bird of prey or other interesting threat (but not this time).
2022-03-08 Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, Morongo Valley, CA
Another common wren, this one wearing "Northern" garb. There are a couple of dozen southern varieties, many named for Caribbean islands. I guess they don't travel much. They aren't as loud as the Carolina wren, the bird that screams in your window every morning telling you to get up, but still a lot of volume from a little bird.
2022-04-24 McKee-Beshers WMA, Potomac, MD [DSC05206]