![]() When the periwinkle pulls itself into its shell, it will close a little trap door called an operculum. Periwinkles move slowly on one foot and scrape up food with a coiled tongue. Periwinkles - These are the snails that you find peacefully grazing on seaweed and other plants. ( Fun fact: Mussels can use byssal threads to tether and immobilize species, such as the dog whelk, to avoid being preyed upon.)Į. By spinning and cutting these threads, mussels can also use them to move. They have a slender foot for temporarily holding themselves in place but use their tough byssal threads to more permanently adhere to the rocks. ![]() Blue Mussels - Also known as the common mussel, these edible mollusks typically live between the high-tide and low-tide line, often just beneath the knotted wrack and bladder wrack. ( Fun fact: The adhesive property of the glue that barnacles make to attach to rocks is being researched for use in dental work.)ĭ. ![]() When the barnacles open, feathery legs extend out of the shells and sift the water for food, namely plankton. The result-pointed shells with doors that click open and shut (and that are known for their scrape-inducing characteristics on unprotected skin). Once they find an appropriate place to settle down, they glue their heads to a rock and begin the process of building their shells. Barnacles - When barnacles are young, they are free swimmers and resemble tiny shrimp. ( Fun fact: Simple seaweeds may have been the Earth’s first plants.)Ĭ. Irish moss (the small reddish-purple, fan-shaped seaweed) and other species of red algae are abundant where they can be submerged for most of the day. Sea lettuce is the green alga that has bright green silky sheets and ruffled margins. Bladder Wrack and Other Seaweeds and Algae - Bladder wrack and knotted wrack, two common seaweeds in a tide pool, use air bladders to float when the tide is in (giving them access to sunlight and creating a forest under the water) and then lay flat on the rocks when the tide is out, forming a thick cover for other species. ( Fun fact: There can be 50,000 plankton in a gallon of sea water.)ī. The tiny animals are the zooplankton, some of which remain zooplankton all their life while others grow to become strong-swimming, non-plankton adults. The tiny plants are called phytoplankton and they produce their own food through photosynthesis, a process that also releases oxygen into the air (it is estimated that 80% of the oxygen on Earth is produced by phytoplankton). Plankton - Named for the Greek word for “drifter” or “wanderer,” plankton are the tiny plants and animals that float in the ocean with the currents. The species links below are to the following sources: CZM’s Marine Invasive Species ID Cards (crabs), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Life in a Massachusetts Tide Pool website (barnacles, sea cucumbers, sea squirts, sea stars, and sea urchins) National Geographic's Resource Library (plankton and sea anemone) and Encyclopedia of Life (bladder wrack, periwinkles, dogwinkles, mummichogs, and mussels).Ī. The following are a few examples of common plants and animals in Massachusetts tide pools with highlights of some of their more uncommon characteristics. Here you can witness fierce battles between predators and prey, exemplary (yet borderline weird) displays of survival, and quirky methods of reproduction and regrowth. Tide pools provide a glimpse into the daily interactions of marine life. This tip covers common plants and animals in a Massachusetts tide pool, invasive tide pool species, some of the best tide pool spots in the state, and suggestions for having a responsible, hands-on tide pool experience.įor a printer-friendly version of this tip, see CZ-Tip - Learn What Lurks in a Massachusetts Tide Pool (PDF, 2 MB). Given that Massachusetts has more than 1,500 miles of coastline, you don’t need to go far to explore the diverse world of tide pools. They serve as temporary shelters (or prisons!) for creatures stranded when the tide goes out and more permanent homes for species adapted to survive the stresses of changing tides, waves, salinity, temperature, and oxygen. Tide pools provide habitat for many marine plants, algae, and animals. Tide pools are typically found on rocky shorelines where water gets trapped between the rocks, but can also form on sandy or mixed sediment shores where seawater collects in depressions at low tide. As the tide recedes along the shore, isolated pools of seawater collect in low spots and form tide pools.
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