Sea Monster! (or a crab)

Biology students spent the day on the Oregon coast during a field trip to Boiler Bay. During low tide, the remaining tide pools are a wealth of life. We couldn’t take a step without finding some kind of cool critter. We discovered sea slugs, sea urchins, starfish, blood stars, sea lemons, kelp crabs and much, much more. We also found out that algae hates people and tries to make them fall down a lot.

Professors Jeff Duerr, Jim Smart and Dwight Kimberley led the trip, and they seemed to have memorized the Latin name for every living creature on the planet. I’d find something, hold it up and ask Dwight what it was. He’d say, “Oh, that’s a (something in Latin).” I’d respond, “Can I just call it a purple crab?” He’d smile.

Boiler Bay is named after a large boiler that still resides in the bay. Once upon a time a ship wrecked there, and all that’s left is this hulking piece of slowly decaying steel.

The weather was perfect for our trip, and we were all disappointed when the tide started coming back in. That signaled the end of our exploration. Here’s a photo slideshow of our day.

Biology Field Trip – Images by George Fox University