Category Archives: Species

Sebastes flavidus: Yellowtail Rockfish–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Adam took this photo of Erik swimming through a school of Sebastes flavidus, the yellowtail rockfish on July1, 2010. subtidal 10metres at Race Rocks.


Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Sub-Phylum Vertebrata
Class Actinopterygii
Order Scorpaeniformes
Family Scorpaenidae
Genus Sebastes
Species flavidus
Common Name: Yellowtail rockfish

 

MArch 2010

Other Members of the Phylum Chordata at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

Adam Harding (PC).

Glebocarcinus oregonensis: Pygmy Rock Crab–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Glebocarcinus  oregonensis Pygmy rock crab-photo by Ryan Murphy

 

Empty giant acorn shells are often the home for this small crab at Race Rocks. It was formerly called Cancer oregonensis

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Malacostraca
Order: Decapoda
Infraorder: Brachyura
Family: Cancridae
Genus: Glebocarcinus
Species: G. oregonensis
Other Members of the Phylum Arthropoda at Race Rocks.

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.  G. Fletcher

 

Pagurus beringanus: Bering hermit crab–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Pagurus beringanus, The Bering hermit crab. photo by Ryan Murphy, 2010

This is a tentative identification of Pagurus Beringanus – the Bering Hermit Crab is an animal that is found from the Bering Sea to Monterrey, California. They are also found at Race Rocks. Commonly found at depths from intertidal to 365 meters.

This Pagurus is identifiable by their pale grey-blue shells (carapaces) mottled with grey, red and yellow spots. Legs are also pale blue with red bands at the joints. Claws are reddish and densely covered with spines. Bering Hermit Crabs all have characteristic green, irridescent eyes
Habitat – rocky, intertidal areas with cold water.
Behavior – Adults are inactive during the day. Starting late afternoon and carrying on through the night they become active and feed. This is because the retinal pigments in the eyes with position of the day and the night, only in response to the ambient light in the water.
Bering Hermit Crabs are scavengers, which makes the fact that they taste good puzzling. They eat dead plant materials and dead animal matter.
They themselves are prey to several types of fish, including pine perch, the California sheephead and the spotted kelpfish.
Females have been recorded with eggs mainly in April and May but some as early as February. During courtship, the male carries the female around for a day or more, knocking their shells together. The actual mating lasts less than a second, and both animals come almost completely out of their shells to perform the act.
References:
Intertidal Invertebrates of California. Morris, Abbot, Haderlie, 1980
Pacific Coast Crabs. Gregory C Jensen, 1995
Between Pacific Tides. Ricketts, Calvin, Hedgpeth, 1997

Classification:
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Order: Decapoda
Superfamily: Paguridea
Family: Paguridea
Genus: Pagurus
Species: beringanus
Common Name: Bering Hermit Crab

Other Members of the Phylum Arthropoda at Race Rocks.

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.
Carmen Braden (PC yr 29) 2002

 

Solaster endeca: Northern Sun star

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One of the frames from the video on predation on the Psolus chitinoides

 

Predation of a Psolus chitinoides by a sea star is examined and discussed by Laura and Nadege. The stomach of the sea star surrounds the sea cucumber and the soft neck and mouth of Psolus is well inside the cavity of the sea

We see these occasionally at Race Rocks in the subtidal areas.Their favorite prey are various species of sea cucumber. Their puffy arms distinguish them from other orange stars. They can grow to 40 cm. across.

 

Reference: Lamb and Hanby, Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest.

Other Members of the Phylum Arthropoda at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

G.Fletcher

 

Flabellina trilineata The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Subclass: Opisthobranchia
Order Nudibranchia
Family Polyceratidae
Genus Flabellina
Species trilineata
Common Name: Nudibranch

Other molluscs at Race Rocks

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

Ryan Murphy

Scorpaenichthyes marmoratus : Cabezon –The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Cabezon:(literally big head in Spanish ) is a benthic fish that lives among the kelp holdfasts and rocky areas, usually very close to the bottom. It is often so confident of its camouflage that it will not move when approached by divers. Note the multi colored eye. These fish will lunge at almost anything that moves on the bottom. Dissections of their stomachs reveal amphipods and small crabs, pieces of kelp (and even rocks they have grabbed when foraging for other invertebrates.)

Cabezon are normally benthic or bottom-dwellers, living among rocks and seaweeds in tide pools. Sometimes they live just below the water’s surface among the marine plants. Their coloration allows them to remain well camouflaged. Their habitat is most likely rocky, sandy and muddy bottoms, living in areas with a depth range of 0 to 200 meters. Moreover, young cabezon feed on small crustaceans like amphipods, shrimp, and crabs. The adults feed on crustaceans, marine worms and mollusks, including clams and abalone. They can swallow a whole abalone and later regurgitate the indigestible shell; therefore, their tropic level is that of a secondary carnivore. In addition, the limiting factors that will affect the development and growth of this population in a certain habitat will be the presence of enough light, temperature and the availability of food and living space

Their maximum length and weight are 99.0 centimeters and 14.0 Kilograms respectively. This organism can be seen in the Eastern Pacific, which covers the areas from Southeastern Alaska to Punta Abrejos, in Central Baja California, Mexico. Race Rocks is located in the centre of this range. In this map we can see the range of this fish.

Reference The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) BioBot
http://www.elasmodiver.com/BCMarinelife/BCML%20Chordata.htm

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. March 15 2005- Diomedes Saldana PC -Greco

Calidris ptilocnemis: Rock Sandpiper

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rmaleutianrocksandpiper

Male Rock Sandpiper photo by Ryan Murphy

Rock sandpiper

Rock Sandpiper photo by Raisa Mirza
bf0209sandpi

Inset from the photo below showing the rock sandpipers in the foreground. The larger birds are the surfbirds. Several Black Turnstones are also in the image below.

bf0209surfbgroup

Click to enlarge to see the difference between the rock sandpipers and the surfbirds. There is also a black turnstone lower right:  Photo by Ryan Murphy

Habitat
During the breeding season, rock sandpipers nest on the  dry, barren tundra. The rest of the year, they are  found on the rocky shores such as at Race Rocks

flyinset-1

Photo by Ryan Murphy

rasia-rock-sandpiper

Rock sandpiper- winter plumage , Nov 22, 2012:  Photo by Raisa Mirza

Behavior and feeding:

Rock Sandpipers are usually found singly, in small groups, or as can be seen above,  in flocks with black turnstones and surfbirds. Unlike the other birds in the photo, rock sandpipers do not get prey attached to the rock,  They move regularly pick up moving prey from the crevices and seaweed among the rocks. Rock Sandpipers are unusual in that they eat vegetable matter, including algae, or seeds as well as invertebrates.

 Classification:

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Charadriiformes
Family Scolopacidae
Genus Calidris
Species ptilocnemis
Common Name: Rock Sandpiper
This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by the students, faculty, staff and volunteers of Lester B. Pearson College February. 2009 Garry Fletcher

Calidris mauri: Western sandpiper–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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This shorebird breeds in Western Alaska but is very abundant in migration all over North America.

WeSa

Western Sandpiper photographed by Ecoguardian Anne Stewart, October 12, 2014

rmoct092sandpiper

Ryan Murphy took this first picture of the western sandpiper, Calidris mauri in late October, 2009 . The dark legs distinguish it from the Least Sandpiper.

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Charadriiformes
Family Scolopacidae
Genus Calidris
Species mauri
Common Name: Western Sandpiper

See other posts tagged Western Sandpiper

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

 

Pluvialis squatarola: Black-Bellied Plover- The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Pluvialis squatarola at Race Rocks, September 28, 2009.
This is our first photo of this plover, taken by Ryan Murphy

Ryan photographed these plovers in their non-breeding plumage  (missing the black belly!) on the lawn at Race Rocks. The top one o was here on March 11, 2010.

These are long-distance migratory birds. They were here as a stopover on the migration, fall and spring. They breed on the arctic tundra and winter on sandy beaches and wetlands in coastal areas from central North America through southern South America. They use the run, stop and stab at the food behaviour common to many plovers.

 

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Charadriiformes
Family Charadriidae
Subfamily Charadrinae
Genus Pluvialis
Species squatarola
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Common Name: Black Bellied Plover

Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
April 2009 Ryan Murphy