Natural bridges state beach, minus tide. Came upon a cluster of four ochre stars all larger than hand sized (10”-12” tip to tip). Each were oozing an opaque fluid which was pooling onto the moist sand below. The fluid was either a bright coral color or a pale off white. We watched it for a few minutes, and it would drip at a rate of one or two drops per minute. The stars appeared full and plump, not wasting away. We wondered if they were spawning, but were unaware that that took place outside of the water.

梅花參 Pineapple sea cucumber (Thelenota ananas)
IUCN Red List: Endangered

Thelenota ananas, also known as pineapple sea cucumber, oloturia ananas, tripang, prickly skin cucumber, pointed teat sea cucumber, armoured sea cucumber, giant sea cucumber, sand fish or prickly redfish, is a species of sea cucumber found in tropical Indo-Pacific waters from the Red Sea and East Africa to Hawaii and Polynesia.

Since the 1960s, this species is targeted by fisheries due to its high commercial value, and its population is estimated to have declined significantly by 80% to 90% in at least half of its habitat.

NOTES: Within the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary. Regrowing arm/s.
SPECIES: Northern Pacific Seastar - Asterias amurensis (Invasive species in Port Phillip Bay & Australia)
LOCATION: Small seagrass bed amongst rocky reef
SIZE: ~100mm
CAMERA: Olympus TG4 (w/Sea Frogs housing)

Lots of juvenile Saccharina latissima at Stanley Park right now in the mid-intertidal. Found alongside lots of the “false Kelp”, Petalonia fascia. Made a quick set of annotated photos to help distinguish these co-occurring species, and two iNat records to note both species. Later in summer, Saccharina population will be restricted to lower intertidal and Petalonia blades will be mostly gone (alternate life cycle stage, a crust, still present).

Note: last photo refers to both species as “juveniles”. Only the Saccharina are juveniles and will grow much larger. The Petalonia are already full grown and very large compared to a “typical” Petalonia in BC.

A pinkish anemone with white spots on the column. Common in the shallow subtidal of northern Vancouver Island. See Sanamyan et al, Invertebrate Zoology 2013, 10 (2): 199-216 for the formal description.

I found this poor creature stuck on its side above the waterline. I picked it up and put it into the water where it happily spread its mantle back over its shell and scooted off on its merry way. All photos are of the same individual.

These large anemones were trawled from a depth below 200 m in Howe Sound. They have distinctive hard knobs in the column and were given the common name hobnail anemones. These may be Actinostola faeculenta. The anemone at 10 o'clock is something different.