Hi Everyone. I am Ryth and I am 9 years old. I live in a small house with a great backyard and a garden where I grow many plants. I live with my mom, dad and my baby 2 year old sister Emerson. I love nature and going to the beach. In this post, I will discuss the best beaches to go to for tidepooling.
The first place is where the most tidepool animals live. It is called the J.V Fitzgerald Reserve, in Moss Beach. It's a great place to look for animals like rare strawberry anemones and 24 armed sea stars. You can also see sea lions and elephant seals resting on the sand. Make sure to take a lot of pictures, because you aren't allowed to take animals there. Most of the sand is yellow/orange rock mixed with the occasional sea glass and fishbone. Although many shells of abalone and brown turban snails may look tempting to bring home, they make a great habitat for hermit crabs. Hermit crabs molt, or shed their skin, and change shells as they do so.
Did you know that 25 different species of plants and animals were discovered here?
The Next place is down south near Monterey. It's called Natural Bridges beach. Out in the ocean, there is a natural arch that was once part of the surrounding land. After many years, it eroded and broke off from the original rock it was part of. That is called a "sea stack" Now, it looks like a small island in the distance. When the tides are low, you can go out to the arch and observe the beautiful chitons, sea stars and crabs that live among the mussels. In addition to the marine life there, there is a butterfly sanctuary, where the monarch butterflies rest after migrating. The orange butterflies carpet the trees, and it is a really amazing sight to look at. When it rains, the pond fills up, which attracts banana slugs, tree frogs (which I like the most), and blue herons.
A secluded beach called Marshalls beach near the Golden Gate Bridge is also an underrated place to look for marine life. On the hike down, you can see banana slugs and red winged blackbirds. Beach strawberries and Monterey Cypresses contributes to the serene coastal habitat while walking down Batteries to Bluffs trail which leads to the beach. After the short hike, the beach is either covered of not covered due to the tides. When it's low tide, unusual seaweeds like boa kelp and bull kelp are exposed. Like Natural Bridges, smaller sea stacks that are about 3-4 feet tall are present. The most common habitat here is the mussel bed. If you look closely at a mussel, you can see all the barnacles, anemones, and other wildlife living on it. One mussel's shell can be a home to a neighborhood of other animals, living in a commensal relationship with the mussel. Go to tideschart.org to find the tides for SF.
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