Tidepools - One of My Favorite Aquatic Ecosystems - Photos and Facts

Near rocky areas along the coast, you can sometimes find tide pools. This has happened to me a couple of times, and I hope to find more in the future.

In and around the rocks by the ocean, little pools of seawater provide the right habitat for many creatures and plant life. They must be hardy organisms, because of the continuously changing environment there. Some of these changes include change in water temperature, oxygen levels, and salinity.

Other things can make it difficult to live there as well. Big crashing waves on sharp rocks, strong currents, exposure to intense sun, and of course hungry predators. With all this, the organisms there rely on a tide pools continual changes, for food.

Some of the orgaisms you will find there include mussels, sea urchins, starfish, land crabs, hermit crabs, sea anemones and shrimp. You can also sometimes find abalone, seaweed, green algae, sculpin, sea cucumbers, sea lettuce, sea palms, snails, sponges and whelks.

If you ever are in an area where there might be tide pools, try to go at low tide and explore to your hearts content!! Be safe, as sometimes access there can be closed off some as the tide comes back in, and its easy to lose track of time. Also, if there is a more open rocky area, the algae there can make it slippery. Also, I would highly recommend not touching and certainly not taking the organisms you find there. If everyone took some away or touched it all too much, then it would be hard for the life there to survive and it could upset a healthy balance there. It ensures that the beauty will be there for you the next time as well, and also for others. This is why I take pictures of what I find there when I can.