Low Tide in Southern Oregon

I ventured to the sand just south of Gold Beach at low tide today, just before noon. You could roam among the towering rocks, some about a hundred feet high.


It was a minus tide and all the marine critters were exposed to the fresh air. Here some periwinkles are clinging to a rock.

Goose barnacles and mussels coexist above the low tide line.

The starfish and anemones live right near the minus tide line. They don't like to be exposed to the air for long. Other critters eat them. Once when I was a kid...about 50 years ago...we brought some starfish home to Portland and put them out on an outside ledge to dry out. A cat ate them! Best to leave them alone.

Large barnacles cling to the rocks...they and the mussels live above the starfish and can tolerate longer exposure to the fresh air.