A gu ide for in ves t igat ing the At lant ic coast shorel ine
These days while on the beach I am no longer relaxing in my beachchair as my toes melt into the sand, I’m happily chasing after a small tot who is inquisitive about everything.
So I decided it was time to go back into my vault of ‘teach-able moments’ and catalog some activity gems and ran-dom factoids that I used as ‘fillers’ to engage - not only chil-dren, but also many adults - while on beachcombing walks, snorkeling excursions, or summer camp lessons.
I hope you find these activities as mere forms of mild edu-tainment to help you and your children to gain more awareness about your surroundings. Each section is also peppered with some facts in case your little explorer has a case of the curiosities.
Additionally, I hope you continue to engage in exploration and you and your family are inspired to enact conservation tenets at home and maybe even share those skills with your neighbors!
One last item to remember while going through this book, “Take only pictures, leave only footprints”. The activities are meant to happen while exploring on the beach so please use your best judgment and please do not disturb live animals or plants.
introduction
list of activi tiesSea Turtle Track Safari 4 sea turtles, diamondback terrapins, International Turtle DayBird is the Word 6 gulls, terns, shorebirds, wading birdsWrack this Way 9 skate egg cases, knobbed whelk egg cases, sea beans, sea lettuce, seahorses, pipefishPlay Conchologist 12 clams, mussels, moon snails, oysters, conchs, whelksDon’t be a Dolt, Know Your Molt 16 blue crabs, fiddler crabs, horseshoe crabsBe a Tide Pool P.I. 22 limpets, clams, mussels, decorator crabs, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sea stars, hermit crabs, fishGet Constructive 30 driftwood, sand, tidesBe Entranced by Beach Plants 32 edible beach plantsFrom a Distance 34 dolphins, porpoisesBe a Diamond in the Rough 36 Cape May diamonds, marine debrisAdditional Resources 38About the Author 39
If you’re in the southeast-ern U.S. during sea tur-tle nesting season (May through October) you may have the opportunity in the early morning to stumble across the flipper tracks of a female sea turtle who dug her nest the night be-fore. Here are some ‘rules of thumb’ to know which type of turtles nest you may have stumbled upon.
Loggerhead sea turtle tracks alternate (comma-like) left and right flippers, and there is no tail mark.
Green and leatherback sea turtles use their right and left flippers at the same time to crawl up the beach and they both have tail marks.
Leatherback sea turtles tracks are the widest at ap-proximately 6-7 feet across (Leatherback sea turtles trav-el over 3,000 miles in order to get to their nesting beaches).
Mother sea turtles lay ap-proximately 100-150 eggs in each nest and may lay
sea tur tle track safaria.
b.
c.
a. Loggerhead seaturtle tracks b. Green sea-turtle tracks c. Leatherback seaturtle tracks
Image (c): myfwc.com
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up to 3-8 nests per season. The juveniles hatch after 45-70 days under the cover of darkness.
It is against federal law to harass, feed, hunt, capture or kill sea turtles in the U.S. Do not interact with any nesting sea turtles as it could be in-terpreted as harassment.
careful - tur tle crossing!
There are some other types of turtles, called terrapins, that you may see search-ing for a nesting spot in May, June, and July. Often they’re seen trying to cross the mid-dle of the road because they prefer to lay their eggs above the high tide line.
Please be careful when driving as these terrapins come out looking for a nesting spot both day and night. The diamondback terrapin is the only turtle in the world that is adapted to live in the estuary.
Did you know that almost half of the world’s tur tle species are considered threatened?
Beginning in 1990, each year the American Tor toise Rescue sponsors May 23rd each year to “increase re-spect and knowledge for the world’s oldest creatures”.
Laughing gulls are quite aggressive. These birds travel up and down the coasts and never have to stray far inland. They are extremely confident and spend their days foraging food from generous beach goers. They will easily push larger birds, such as a peli-can, right out of the way in order to grab the goodies. These birds have a black cap of feathers, but, it changes to white in the off breeding season.
As you get to your beach destination, you most likely had to drive very close to an estuary. These estuaries (where the rivers and sea meet) are the home to the osprey. Also known as the ‘fish hawk’ the osprey is able to plummet down almost 30 stories above water to grab its prey (e.g., mullet, menhaden, other smaller fish) using its sharp, barbed talons. Here are some other commonly asked questions about our feathered friends to keep the conversation going as you sit in traffic on the boulevard.
Where do seagulls nest?
It is interesting to think that seagulls may want to rest at some point. When they are not strategizing how to steal your child’s ice cream cone, they are reenergiz-ing somewhere safe inland (e.g., old boat yards, rock jetties, water towers, etc.). Seagulls are fully grown when they leave the nest. This is why we never see baby gulls.
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What is the difference between a tern and a gull? You might want to ask your little one to watch as the birds forage for food. Some indications would include:
Terns dive to the water to grab a fish while gulls float on the water to pick up their prey.
Terns are generally smaller and have a sharp beak. Gulls have a hooked beak. Terns have long-pointed wings while gulls have broad wings.
Arctic terns fly over 25,000 miles to the Southern Ocean. This is the longest migration of any bird.
Royal ternImage (c): prometheus.med.utah.edu
Pair of laughing gulls Image (c):
pigbristles.blogspot.com
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Shorebirds are small to me-dium size wading birds.
Shorebirds have long legs, pointed beaks, and long pointed wings.
Shorebirds wade close to the shore and poke their bills into the ground in search of food.
Shorebirds are very well camouflaged for their en-vironment and their ap-pearance may vary from place to place as plumage (feather colors) are gained or lost during breeding.
Shorebirds typically range in size from 0.06 to 4.4 pounds.
Examples include avocets, black skimmers, oyster-catchers, plovers, sandpip-ers, and stilts.
Wading birds have long, skinny legs and toes which make it easier for them to search for food (forage) in deeper waters.
Wading birds have long bills with pointed or round-ed tips (depending on what is more efficient for the types of food the bird consumes).
Wading birds have long, flexible necks that can change shape drastically in seconds, an adaptation for proficient hunting.
Wading birds fully extend their legs to the rear when flying. The neck may be ex-tended or not while in flight, depending on the species.
Examples include cranes, egrets, herons, ibis, rails, spoonbills, and storks.
What is the difference between a shorebird and a wading bird?Shorebirds and wading birds have many similar features and you may get confused when identfying them. Here are some ‘rules of thumb’ that can help to distinguish the two groups of birds you may often see on the coast.
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wrack this wayThe wrack line is the part of the shore just above the high tide line where seaweed is deposited. It is a great place to seek out exotic visitors that may have hitched a ride while tangled up in the seaweed. I always found it help-ful to focus wee ones on ‘treasure hunts’ while beach-combing along the wrackline. Egg cases, sea beans, and sea lettuce are fairly distinct - yet still rare. You can collect these items it a bucket in an attempt to create a ‘beach burrito’.
Skate egg cases
These black pods with tendrils hanging from the corners are the egg cases of skates. They are sometimes referred to as a ‘Mermaid’s purse’. Skates are cartilaginous fish relat-ed to sharks and rays. They are similar in shape to rays. We humans have carti-lage in our noses and ears. Usually what we see when beachcombing are the egg cases after a juvenile skate has hatched.
Knobbed whelk egg cases
The strand of quarter sized pods attached to a central line that resembles a spinal cord is the egg case of the knobbed whelk. If you hold the tiny pods up to the sunlight you can see a miniature version of the whelk developing. Please note that it would not be ap-propriate to take a saturated egg case for investigation, so you should examine only a version that is dried up and found above the high tide line.
Left to right: Skate egg case, knobbed whelk with egg case
Due to the various currents that collide near the south Atlantic coast, many dif-ferent types of seeds drift onto the shore.
Washed up and often hidden in the wrack line, these sea beans are a ma-rine jewel to many beach-combers. Sea beans are seeds that have traveled for many miles through cur-rents from the Caribbean, South America, or even as far away as Africa.
They come in many shapes and sizes, but since they have spent a considerable amount of time being ex-foliated in salty water they often appear smooth and polished.
Sea lettuce
This brilliant green sheet-like algae washes up in the wrackline, and when dried is white or black. It blooms all year round. The leaves are round and are often perforated with holes of various sizes. It is often used in ice cream!
Top to bottom: Sea beans, sea lettuce Image (c): boatus.com, dnrec.de.us
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Learn to be silent enough to hear the sound of the genuine within yourself so that you can
hear it within others.- Marian Wright Edelman
Seahorses
Many animals live and hide among the seaweed patch-es of the ocean. When sea-weed is washed ashore you can pick up the lumps of al-gae, shake it, and see if any drifters have made their way into your hands. You might find pipefish, crabs, shrimp, or even seahorses.
Many of these creatures have adapted a camou-flage so as not to be seen at first glance among the sea-weed. One creature children tend to go extactic over is the seahorse. Here are some fun factoids about seahorses to share if you happen to stumble across one.
Female seahorses lay their eggs in the male’s tummy pouch. He then incubates them for about 30 days and then they hatch.
Seahorses do not have a stomach, but rather they eat constantly to help get enough food to digest.
Seahorses do not have teeth, but rather a fused jaw, so they suck up their food like a straw.
If you happen to come across a seahorse that is rather stretched out, that is a pipefish. Pipefish also like to use seaweed as a hiding place and wrap their tails around the floating plant.
Top to bottom: Seahorse, pipefishImage (c): discovermagazine.com,
fusedjaw.com
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A conchologist is someone who collects (and/or studies) seashells. Gather your little one and start seeking out shells of various colors, sizes, and types to create a sandy collage!
Clams
Many times you will see a clam shell on with a perfect hole drilled through the top. What has happened is a separation of two shells by the predator of that clam. The two shells were at one point hinged together and the animal inside used a very strong muscle to keep the shells suctioned togeth-er as one. Often, restau-rants split the shells (shuck) and serve this muscle of the clam ‘on-the-half-shell’.
However, the predators of the clams in the ocean do not shuck. The preda-tor of the clam all have a radula (a sharp, drill-like tongue) used to drill into the bivalve (animal with two shells hinged together) and suck out its prey. They leave behind the distinctive symmetrical hole. Moon snails, conchs, and whelks all have radulas.
MusselsMussels use a sticky pro-tein, known as bysuss, to attach to bulkheads, rope, and rocks. The bysuss forms tough, yellow fibers that harden in salt water. Mus-sels use gills to filter water in order to get food and oxygen. The inside of their shell is iridescent. Mussels, like clams, have two shells hinged together and are known as bivalves.
What does it mean to be ‘happy as a clam’?
Originating from a section of New England where clams are plentiful, the phrase is better un-derstood in its entirety, ‘happy as a clam at high water’. At high tide clams can avoid predators. Birds, raccoons, seals, and sea stars are all typical predators of clams.
play conchologist
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Moon snailsMoon snails are a univalve animal with a strikingly beau-tiful cinnamon bun swirled shell.
The shell is extremely thick to protect itself from preda-tors. If you try to pick the snail up it will resist because of its suction-like muscled foot planted in the sand. The snail has that muscled foot which makes it glide quickly
while also creating swirls in the sand. If you do pick the snail up the animal will quick-ly close its door for protec-tion. The door, or operculum, needs to be closed to retain water and nutrients.
Be aware you may see tiny legs and eyes popping out. Often, hermit crabs use these shells as homes. Lastly, moon snails are predators of clams so you may possibly see some shells with holes nearby.
OystersOften people are curious as to how an oyster makes a pearl. Oyster, like mussels and clams, are bivalves.
The part of the oyster (like all bivalves) that lines the inside of the shell is known as the nacre, and the part of the animal that makes up the outer shell is known as the mantle. A pearl is actually created rather by accident when something foreign gets stuck inside the mantle, thus the nacre accumulates an added layer to protect the ani-mal. This accumulation is the pearl. Oysters, mussels, and clams all make pearls. However, they are most of-ten seen in oysters.
Oyster shells are typically not as uniform in shape as clams and mussels and tend to grow according to their surroundings, making it easier for foreign junk to accumulate.
Conch & WhelksThe space inside these conical shells is bounc-ing against your surround-ings. Putting a seashell up to your ear in a room with a closed door would not have the same effect.
Do you know how to tell the difference between a conch and a whelk? A good rule of thumb would be that whelks are found in temperate water and conchs are found in more tropical waters. Their body colors are different as well.
Conchs have a green or gray color while whelks are white or tan-like in appear-ance. Conchs have eye-balls, while whelks have eyespots. If you’re lucky enough to catch them while feasting, whelks are carnivores and conchs are herbivores.
don’t be a dolt, know your moltMany of the treasure you may end up finding along the shoreline are the exoskeltons shed from crabs.
Many times these exoskeletons are mistaken for dead crabs. But, you can rest assure that it is more likely the exoskeleton (also known as the ‘molt’ since it is shed during the molting process) from horseshoe crabs, blue crabs, lady crabs, and other crustaceans.
In fact even though these molts looks rather dreary and skeleton-like there is no reason to be frightened because it is jsut chitin, something common to us as well. Chitin is the main material for 1) the exoskeleton of shrimp, crabs, and lobsters, 2) the beak of squid and octopi and 3) the radula of mollusks. It is very similar in make up to glucose and similar in function to keratin (which is what makes up our hair, skin, and nails).
Blue crabsIf you’re searching through the wrack line, you’ll certain-ly see the molts of blue crabs. If you flip one over you’ll no-tice a shape in the center of their bellies. Male blue crabs have a distinct shape like a pencil, or the Washington Monument, in the center of their bellies. Female blue crabs have a shape like the Capitol dome. Also the tips of the claws are blue for males and red for females.
Fiddler crabs
If you see a dollar coin sized hole in the sand it might be the home of a fiddler crab.
Tell your little one that fiddler crabs got their nickname because the extra large claw of the male fiddle crab is shaped like a fiddle. They use this extra large claw to attract females and as a tool for defense when other males want to duel during mating season.
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Clockwise: Female blue crab (underside), female blue crab (top), fiddler crab, male blue crab (underside)
Did you know that some lobsters can be blue due to a genetic modification or an abnormal diet. Most lobsters are earthen brown-ish-green prior to cooking and then turn red. Lobsters of any color taste the same after being cooked.
A lot of people are under the assumption that lob-sters mate for life. In fact, the male lobster is appar-ently quite the Casanova. Female lobsters tend to pa-tiently wait in line outside of a male lobster’s den wait-ing for their turn to mate. All lobsters have to molt. Fe-males can only mate right after molting. So, when she is ready to shed her old shell, the female releases a pher-omone into the male’s den. The male exits his den, and the male and the female proceed to have a box-ing match with their claws. The female lets him win and places her claws on his head. Then they move into
the den and in a few hours to a few days she molts. Then it is time to mate. After that she hangs out until her new shell is strong enough to protect herself, at which point she leaves the den and never looks back.
Top to bottom: Blue lobster, lobster molting Image (c): themintcondition.com,
bigbendsportsmen.com
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Horseshoe crabsThe Atlantic horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, is one of my favorite animals. This creatures has some remark-able adaptations and fea-tures that have made the animal survive since before dinosaurs were on earth.
At first glance, this animal looks intimidating. That long spine, known as the telson, will not stab you. The telson is used to flip the horseshoe crab over when the ocean current rolls the arthropod over onto its back. The tip of the telson is jabbed into the sand and the horseshoe crab rights itself over, some-what like the act of throwing a javelin. If you see one alive and want to take it back to the sea it is best to pick it up from the side of its cara-pace. Take the time to in-spect it 10 pairs of legs and see if it’s gobbling any food with its mouth, located be-tween its legs.
The Atlantic horseshoe crab is a living fossil that re-
sembles the fossil record of trilobites (an extinct marine arthropod). A living fossil is an organism that more closely resembles a fossil than anything around to-day. Living fossils have gone unchanged after millions of years, therefore resembling the fossil record of their an-cestors very closely.
Horseshoe crabs have gone unchanged for 450 million years. They actually existed before the dinosaurs! Oth-er examples of living fos-sils include alligators and crocodiles which haven’t
Horseshoe crab body parts Image (c): njscuba.net
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evolved much in the past 230 million years.
Horseshoe crabs have a tough exoskeleton that is difficult for predators to get through. They also can go for a year without food so they spend a lot of their life hiding. They also have the ability to endure the most extreme conditions in their environments.
Horseshoe crabs are a stead-fast and vital component of the Atlantic coast eco-system. Their highest con-centrated nesting ground is along the Delaware Bay, which is a popular rest stop for many migratory birds as they make their way south and north. But, horseshoe crabs have a ritual of coming up to mate during the full and new moons in May and June. It’s quite the phenomenon and
well worth it if you’re inspired to be a volunteer and count the horseshoe crabs for a lo-cal census. For ten months out of the year horseshoe crabs live in the depths of the ocean floor and currents of-ten tousle the creature over.
Horseshoe crabs grow on av-erage a quarter the size each time they shed. Females grow to be approximately two feet across and males a bit smaller. Many molts of-ten wash up to the shore and get tangled in the wrack line. If you’re investigating
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It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most
intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. - Charles Darwin
the wrack line and think you might see a horseshoe crab that is still alive and struggling, you should pick them up by their sides and right them up so they can get back to the sea. This simple act can save many crabs.
Horseshoe crabs have also become essential in the med-ical field as their special blue blood (containing copper in-stead of iron) will congeal in the presence of either living or dead gram negative bacte-ria (both are undesirable). This is another adaptation which has made the horseshoe crab survive through the centuries.
Opposite page: Horseshoe crabs mat-ing, This page (clockwise): Horseshoe
crab blood being drained, child exam-ing horseshoe crab molt, horseshoe
Limpets are small, flattened snails with a conical shell that live on rocks in the in-tertidal zone. They trap wa-ter beneath their shell and use it to survive from high tide to low tide.
Mussels
Mussels attach themselves to any type of hard sub-strate in the intertidal re-gions, including pilings. On pilings, the top most mussels indicate the high tide line. Mussels tend to aggreagate together to reduce individu-allexposure during dry con-ditions in the tide pool.
Tide pools are only found during low tide along the in-tertidal zone, as high tide covers up the habitat. The ani-mals that live in tide pools are distinctively adapted to surviving with the various amounts of water. If you have the opportunity to spend any time at the beach during low tide you’ll certainly want to investigate these small habitats that are vibrant and filled with life. John Stein-beck wrote in The Log from the Sea of Cortez, “It is advis-able to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again.” Some animals you may want to seek out are fish, sea stars, limpets, mussels, clams, and crabs.
Clams
While making your way to the tide pool, did you see tiny colorful clams wriggle under the sand? These clams use a muscled foot to dig a burrow and hide from their predators: crabs, sea stars, and snails. They are able to feed themselves with the muscle coming out of the other end, called a siphon. The siphon absorbs the nutrients from the sea to help the shell grow. These clams grow quickly in the summer and slowly in the winter. You can tell the age of a clam by counting the darker rings. The pale rings indicate the winter.
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Clockwise: Limpet and barnacle, clam shell, juvenile clams in sand, mussel Image (c): thomaslaupstad.com,
Several species of crabs are considered ‘decora-tor crabs’ because they conceal themselves with sponges, bryozoans, anem-ones, and other vegeta-tion. The crabs will hold a piece of decoration against their shells until they begin to grow there. They are equipped with Velcro-like bristles which keep their camouflage attached. Sur-prisingly enough, the dec-orations remain with the crab even when it sheds its exoskeleton. When the old shell splits, the vulnerable crustacean crawls out. The crab hides from predators while a new shell forms.
Sea urchins
Sea urchins do a very similar thing, but sea urchins have very thin tube-like suction cup feet named pedicilar-ia. These feet are useful to grasp onto pieces of sea-shells, pebbles, or seaweed to disguise the sea urchin
from other nearby preda-tors. Sea stars also have the pedicilaria that they use to attach themselves to tough substrates.
Sea urchins are a part the phylum known as the echi-noderms. Echinoderms all have very bumpy skin and pentaradial symmetry. Pen-taradial symmetry means that you can divide the specimen into five equal parts. Included in this group are sea stars and sea cu-cumbers among many oth-ers.
Sea cucumbers
Sea cucumbers have an interesting tactic to protect themselves. They will expel their intestines outside of their body to distract would-be predators. The sea cu-cumber is a prized Japa-nese culinary tradition often used in soups and stews. Fisheries along the Atlantic coast have been popping up in the past twenty years to sell sea cucumbers.
Commonly referred to as starfish, sea stars are a kid magnet. If you’re lucky enough to unearth one of these echinoderms at-tached to a rock, be sure to make the most of the mo-ment and explain some of these attention-grabbing facts with your children.
Sea stars are not fish. All fish have a backbone, just like us. Sea stars have a flexible skeleton and can regener-ate body parts. It is important, though, to still be very careful when handling these animals.
Sea stars breathe only under water using a water vascular system. You can see many, tiny tubed-feet (pedicilaria) on the underside of the ani-mal. These are a main com-ponent of the water vascular system.
Sea stars have an eyespot at the tip of each leg. These eye-spots can distinguish between light and dark.
Sea stars have been known to live up to 35 years in the wild! It really depends on the species. Their wild habitat includes coral reefs, rocky coasts, sandy bottom, or even the deep sea of all the world’s oceans. There are approximately 1,800 differ-ent types of sea stars. They have been known to live up to 10 years in aquariums.
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Hermit crabs
Hermit crabs are often popular and desirable pets for young beachcombers. It is intersting to find out that hermit crabs are not able to breed successfully unless they can deposit their eggs in teh ocean. If you do happen to stuble across a hermit crab as a pet, know that the crab will be in constant need of a new shell as it gets larger.
When the hermit crab is ready to move away from its’s current shell, a new shell with an opening slightly larger than its pre-vious one will be most ap-propriate. Specifically if the opening will allow its large claw to tightly seal its body within the shell.
Opposite page (top): Close up of tube feet of sea star, (bottom): sea star, This page: hermit crab Image (c): wikipedia.com, beautifulafricanwildanimalspets.blogspot.com, hermitcrabworld.com
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Fish
You may be lucky enough to fish some tiny fish dart-ing around tide pools as many fish, including sculpin, use these areas as nursey ground before heading out to the open ocean where they’ll be more vunerable. So, keep an eye out for some interesting shapes that may be egg masses as many species lay eggs on the rocks and vegetation of the tide pool.
97% of fish do lay eggs. However, some shark spe-cies like the shortfin mako do give birth to live young. If a fish gives birth to live young it’s not always just like humans. Sometimes, the embryo of some spe-cies gets no nutrients from the mother, but is tak-en from the egg. Coel-acanths, a fish thought to be extinct, gives birth this way.
If you’re anything like me, after twenty minute of giv-ing it my all with an en-thusiastic youngster I am thinking naptime. In case you’re wondering, most fish are just like us and sim-ply want to find a place away from all the chaos of the day-to-day rat race to rest. These places could be under logs, coral crevices, anywhere out of the way of predators.
Here is an interesting adap-tation from the parrotfish which uses its spit to cre-ate a translucent “sleep-ing bag bubble” around its body while it sleeps. The bubble helps to hide the scent of the parrotfish so other fish will not find it. If another animal bumps into the bubble the parrotfish will be warned of a pos-sible predator nearby and make a quick getaway.
With a constant stream of sunlight plants are able to thrive in tide pools.
There is an adundance of nutrients and oxygen as the tides bring water back and for th.
With many different types of surfaces (rocks, driftwood, etc.) animals can find a secure place to hide.
Many animals (hermit crabs, mussels, etc.) are able to ‘seal’ themselves to keep in moisture when the tide goes out.
Many inter tidal animals have adapted to tolerate varsious levels of salinty as the tide goes in and out.
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It might seem simple, but spending ten minutes searching for driftwood can have amazing rewards.
Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto the shore and each piece has a distinct character as it’s been trav-eling a unique journey. It has been eroded and shaped by wind, tides, and waves. These sticks can be used to create tic-tac-toe boards, decorate sandcastles, create graphite in the sand, or even used to keep those math skills up during the summer break.
get constructive
Sand
If you do decide to build a sandcastle or play with drift-woods in the sand, here are some conversation pieces to make it an even more enriching experience. Yes, the following is actually ex-citing elements on sand.
You see sand is essentially the smallest bit of the earth which surrounds any partic-ular beach.
For instance, sand found on the Atlantic coasts’ sandy beaches is high in calcium, since seashells are rich in calcium and are broken down to form sand there. Inland lakes and ponds have sand high in silicon
Did know that a person who collects sand specimens from
various beaches is known as an arenopile?
Not to be confused with a person who loves aviation, an aerophile.
since the rocks surround-ing are made up of vari-ous types of silicates. Black sand found near volcanoes is high in iron and aluminum since that is what is found in lava. Sand off the coast of Namibia is known to contain diamonds! Mostly all sand, though, contains quartz. It is thought that this common ingredient is car-ried by bird droppings.
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Tides
It is also worth mentioning that the best spot to build a sandcastle is right where the last tide just went out. That is where the sand is solid and you don’t have to dig too deep before hitting water.
Understanding tides can be a tricky concept, but explain to your young one
that each ocean has its own timetable depending on the size. It is also depen-dent upon the gravitational pull of the moon. The highest tides are found at the Bay of Fundy (Atlantic Ocean) off the coast of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Can-ada, as well as Maine in the United States. These tides are typically 5 to 10 times higher than other coasts!
Left to right: Driftwood, island at low tide at the Bay of Fundy Image (c): beclecto.com, thunderpress.net
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Many of the islands that we are able to drive to for a weekend getaway are developed barrier islands. These islands are there to protect the mainland from harsh weather. Technically, barrier islands are mountains, per-manently exposed, coming up from the bottom of the sea. They are made of rock and pebble. Estuaries are the body of water in between the barrier island and the mainland.
The beaches of the barrier islands have an additional barrier of the dunes covered in plants to protect the life on the islands. Many of these plants have adaptations such as low root systems or waxy leaves to keep the salty air from damaging them.
be entranced by beach plants
Edible plants
Here is a sampling of some of the plants that you may see, and if you’re lucky enough to spot them you can even taste!
You can eat the blackber-ries of the dewberry with milk and honey. For a re-freshingly cool drink, soak winged sumac in cool wa-ter for 15 minutes. Devour the sweet pulp of the prick-ly pear after you peel away the skin. Add the leaves of sea rocket and sea lettuce to a fresh seaside salad. Lastly, gorge on the stems
Above: Barrier island, Opposite page (Clockwise): Dewberry, winged sumac,
of the bull thistle (of course, only after you’ve removed the thorns!).
I also suggest taking some time to close your eyes and reveal in the sounds as the dune grass makes as the wind passes through it.
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Do you see the waves break farther at sea? There may be a natural sandbar there. A sandbar is created when the current closest to the ocean floor is moving offshore and meanwhile dumping small piles of sand. The sand accumulates to various degrees and creates the shal-low areas after you’ve swum through a deep spot. These accumulations are known as shoals. A sandbar is long, narrow shoal near the coast.
from a distance
Why is a dolphin not a fish?
If you’re lucky enough, you might be able to spot a fin popping up in the horizon. Marine mammals, such as dolphins and porpoises, have to come up to the surface to breathe (un-
like sharks and other fish). You can tell the difference between a dolphin and a porpoise in a few differ-ent manners. But, the only way from your vantage point would be to notice if the dorsal fin is a triangular shape (porpoise) or curved back (dolphin).
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Opposite page: Ocean horizon, This page: Comparison of dolphin and porpoiseImage (c): sergedidina.wordpress.com, theweasternisle.co.uk
Comparing dolphins and porpoises
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Dolphins take pleasure in play:
jumping, somersaulting and creating games and athletic contests,
not to win, but simply to live ... - Wyland
I would be doing the ocean a great disservice if I didn’t take the opportunity to speak on its behalf and note that it is an ecosystem in trouble.
be a diamond in the rough
Marine Debris
Much of the cause of this trouble is marine debris, more specifically, plastic marine debris. In the last half of the past century, plastics made a significant impact on mankind’s qual-ity of life. However, there have been noticeable and unforeseeable conse-quences. While you’re en-joying the last moments of sun for a beautiful beach day, please do your part and collect bottle caps and those tiny bits of car-ry-out containers that can get caught up in the wrack line.
If your little ones are able to join you, have them par-ticipate. But, you can also keep their innocence alive and have them search out for sea glass. Sea glass is a well traveled piece of his-tory. The hard substances that you find have spent
a considerable amount of time floating in the ocean. It has been tumbling along the sand and water for so long that that the glass, slate or what-have-you, has been polished by the sand. If you are lucky you will find some with faded descriptions of their original containers.
The subjects featured in these activities are but a small dose of the wonders of the coastline and ocean beyond. Please continue your exploration and here are some additional re-sources to get you started.
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Above: Marine debris, Opposite: Cape May diamondsImage (c): noaa.gov, sunsetbeachnj.com
Are the improvements that plastics bring to our quality of life balanced
with the direct and indirect harmful effects that plastics have on marine life?
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Additional Resources
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries CommissionEnchanted LearningNational Geographic SocietyNational Marine Educator’s AssociationNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – National Marine Fisheries ServicePew Environmental GroupSea Grant AssociationSmithsonian Institute
Great Books for Follow-up
Here is a list of 10 ocean-themed picture books for children appropriate as young as 2 years of age.
‘Commotion in the Ocean’ by Gil Andreae ‘Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef’ by Marianne Berkes‘Mister Seahorse’ by Eric Carle‘The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor’ by Joanna Cole‘Swimmy’ by Leo Lionni‘Beach Day’ by Karen Roosa‘Hello Ocean‘ by Pam Munoz Ryan ‘I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean’ by Kevin Sherry‘The Suzanne Tate Nature Series‘ by Suzanne Tate ‘Flotsam’ by David Wiesner
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About the Author
Ann McElhatton has been a field biologist, conservation-ist, and a naturalist instructing various audiences for over a decade. As a south Jersey native, she loves any teach-able moment where she can demonstrate the gentle and extraordinary attributes of the Atlantic horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus.
In 2008 she started the web-site, Beach Chair Scientist. Which has been featured in the NOAA’s Information Ex-change for Marine Educa-tors, numerous websites and blogs (including USGS, Wild-Coast, and Conservation
Law Foundation), and has been shared as a teaching resource on environmental educator websites from Ha-waii to New Jersey.
Ann has a B.S. in Marine Re-sources Management from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and an M.Ed. in Environmental Education from Florida Atlantic Univer-sity. She is currently the Pro-gram Manager with the At-lantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program, and is a member of the North Ameri-can Association of Environ-mental Educators, National Marine Educators Associa-tion and the Mid-Atlantic Ma-rine Educators Association.
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www.beachchairscientist.com
... bringing a simplified perspective to your beachcombing inquires & more.
