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Flora or fauna? The tube-dwelling anemone lights up the Sound with its "blooms"
Meet the tube-dwelling anemone, a delicate blossom at the bottom of Puget Sound.
We're over the moon for the moon snail
With its easily recognizable shell (the largest found on Puget Sound beaches), we are certainly over the moon for this month's critter: the Moon Snail.
Be still, my heart (urchin)!
Unlike most sea urchins, which are round, heart urchins appear heart-shaped, elongate with a small depression at one end for the mouth.
Ring in the New Year with the black-eyed hermit crab
The black-eyed hermit is never far from home, because it carries it along. Hermit crabs find protection from predators inside empty snail shells.
Get winterized with the frost-spot corambe
The frost-spot corambe is a beautiful sea slug with frosty white speckles that seem to glow as if it just swallowed a set of twinkly lights.
Having a bad hair day? The hair worms can relate
The hair worms belong to a family of polychaetes called Cirratulidae, and their tangled hairs are actually branchiae, external gills that occur in pairs along their bodies.
Sound-to-table? The sweet potato sea cucumber is a produce impersonator
With its smooth, plump body, this month’s critter bears a resemblance to items you might find in a grocery store. Meet Molpadia intermedia, the Sweet Potato Sea Cucumber.
Pea crabs, the ultimate unwelcome houseguests
Pea crabs are very tiny. They can be found inside oysters, marine worms, or — especially in the Pacific Northwest —in ghost shrimp burrows.
Riddle me this: What is a glistenworm?
The glistenworm is a shell-less, footless mollusk that burrows into marine sediments by digging with the shield around its mouth.
Making a stink: the Pacific stinkworm
When disturbed, Travisia pupa, the stinkworm, as its name suggests, gives off a pungent odor similar to rotting garlic.