Negative Tide

The beaches in Seattle experience a negative tide this time of year. We learned that the Seattle Aquarium was sending naturalists down to the beaches on Monday during the negative tide to help explore and answer questions. It was amazing how far the tide went out revealing lots of sea life for us to check out!Looking at sea anemones, Natalie renamed them "the belly buttons of the sea!"Andrew holding a crab shell, yes just the shell. The naturalist explained that crabs molt, like snakes shed their skin. So when the crab has grown too big for it's shell a crack opens along its back and the crab essentially "walks" out. It then buries itself deep in the sand for a few days until the new shell has hardened. The naturalist said that's why you'll see so many crab shells along the beach, it's not because the crab has died it's just molted. Interesting huh?Big clam!A perfect northwest beach day!A whelk shell, that could have housed a snail or a hermit crab at some point. The small whole indicates whoever was living in there got eaten or sucked out by something else.Making "bird prints" and "chicken hands" in the sand!
A Moon Snail and a Sand Collars where it lays eggs. When you pick up this rather large snail and touch the bottom and huge strand of slime will follow! Sandy-Faced WillSuccess! Fun was had by all... even the nanny! :)