Another Tide Pool criter

@cperry2 (5608)
Newport, Oregon
February 7, 2021 12:38pm CST
Been a little while since I posted. Today's critter is called a Katy Chiton (Katharina tunicata) sometimes it's called a leatherback chiton due to the look of the skin. The diamonds on the back expose parts of its seven shells. (these do not really look like shells, but more like strips of shell when they are no longer attached to the chiton) It can be found along the American Coast to about 40 meters deep from California northward to Alaska and across the Pacific to Russia, including the Aleutian Islands. It is related to a couple of creatures I've already posted, namely the mossy chiton and the gumboot chiton. These are grazers who feed on algae. This critter is a favorite for me, but only because one of my granddaughters is named Katy. Not after the critter, but that makes no difference, it always reminds me of her. These chitons stand out in the tidepools because of how dark they are. Invariably, when I talk about these critters, I am asked if they are edible. Yes, the Native Americans would cook these in the coals or over an open flame. As for taste, I would not know, no one I know of still eats these creatures. Tidepooling is one of my favorite pass times. I got a really good feeling this past month when my two seventeen-year-old granddaughters (independently) stated that one of the things they really missed about coming to visit us here on the coast was doing tide-pooling. (one granddaughter even arranged to take a friend to a tidepool in California just so that she could go again. (Due to Covid and my wife and my high-risk factors we have not had in-person visitors, not even family since this pandemic started.) Hurry up vaccines, I want to get back to life in public again. Have a great day everyone.
4 people like this
3 responses
DE
@DaddyEvil (137259)
• United States
7 Feb 21
That think looks kinda like a football to me. I wouldn't ask about eating it... I don't/can't eat seafood. I'm allergic to the high iodine content. I've been hospitalized twice after eating scallops. (And I LOVE scallops!) I've only been to the ocean once and spent the day watching creatures in a tide pool. It takes driving a solid 24 hours for me to reach the Pacific ocean from Missouri. Too long and too far just to have a nice day at the beach. *sigh* I haven't seen family since Covid started. I've talked to some of them on the phone but that's not the same thing.
2 people like this
Clint Perry
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
7 Feb 21
It does look like a football doesn't it? I don't have an allergy to seafood, just don't care for the taste. Mostly the people asking about edibility are from the island nations. Though not always. I had not seen the ocean until I was in my 30's. I lived seven hours from the Gulf of Mexico for the first thirty years of my life but never thought it worth the drive. Now, I cannot imagine myself being very far away. I don't know which would be worse: Living too far from the ocean to visit, or as I am right now, lame. I have a bad knee (eventually will have it replaced, already replaced one) so I cannot get to the tide pools safely. I just got a cortisone shot on Wednesday and things feel better but unfortunately, the knee unstable and it is a significant risk climbing down the rocks or walking on those seaweed-covered rocks in the tidepools.
1 person likes this
DE
@DaddyEvil (137259)
• United States
7 Feb 21
@cperry2 Pretty, my daughter, and I used to drive to Table Rock Lake to swim on warm summer nights. We'd wear those light-up bracelets so we could find each other in the dark and the fishermen and boats wouldn't run us down in our inner tubes/inflatable rafts. (We'd swim just off the bridge in Shell Knob. Traffic would stop on the bridge and people would gather at the railing to watch the "pretty lights" moving on the lake. ) The lake is only a 40 minute drive. I've driven to California twice but only went to the ocean once. It was beautiful! Several years ago we had torrential rains here and the water rose in the lake until the water was up into the trees on the shore. Too many snakes in the trees. Now the weeds have grown up around the edges so we don't even try to go anymore. I'd think, being that close and still not being able to go would be the worst thing, in my opinion.
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Clint Perry
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
8 Feb 21
@DaddyEvil Well, I like to believe my lame situation is temporary. I've pretty much recovered from the first surgery though I still have a lot of tightness (scar tissue) I'm having to work around. Doc says that might be a bothersome issue for another year or so. I think he is hoping I will eventually forget about it. He might be right with this other knee going downhill. I love the idea of night time inter tubing with light-up bracelets. I could not do it here, the water is much too cold for swimming. But it is a cool idea. I think I'll suggest that to my grandchildren as something exciting to try when they are feeling adventurous. Snakes are one of the reasons we bought a house here. The temps are too cold for most snakes. We only have two that live here. Neither is poisonous. (rubber boas and a striped garter snake.) I've found both in my yard and they still scare the bejeebus out of me. I grew up in Arkansas and Northern Texas, We had lots of poisonous ones around. My older brother was bit by a water moccasin when I was a toddler. I believe this and the uproar it caused my parents is the basis of my fear of snakes. It is absolutely my biggest phobia. Having said that, I have, on several occasions, handled corn snakes, king snakes, and rubber boas. It is those snakes I find by accident that get me. They cause my heart to skip a beat and my vocal cords to mimic a ten-year-old girl as my body involuntarily expresses its self -- and yes, made me the butt of several jokes within the family.
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Judy Evans
@JudyEv (339953)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Feb 21
That's really nice that your grand-daughters enjoy tide-pooling so much.
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Judy Evans
@JudyEv (339953)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Feb 21
@cperry2 For a while, some children were very sheltered but I think perhaps there is now more effort to get them out and about a bit. Of course, if they're in the middle of a big city, it isn't always easy to give them those sorts of experiences. It's good you could share your interests with your grandchildren.
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Clint Perry
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
9 Feb 21
@JudyEv I believe the issue lies with her mother, my daughter. She is simply not interested in nature unless it happens to come up to her back door. Going out into nature is something she simply refuses to do. To my knowledge, she never had any traumatic situations in the wild, and she was introduced to it. Maybe she feels it beneath her. I honestly don't understand it. But that is who she is.
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Clint Perry
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
8 Feb 21
I knew one of them had enjoyed our trips to the tidepools but the other one surprised me. She has always had issues with small crawly things. Once at the age of 9 or 10, while we were sitting at a picnic table she suddenly began screaming. I found out it was because an ant had crawled onto the table in front of her. We took a trip with the Science Center I work at. It was to the mudflats in an estuary where we dug up mud shrimp and learned about the Asian parisite that is threatening them. When I picked one up and showed it to her, she was done. She was ready to go back to the classroom where everything was nice and clean and sterile. Ah, well, she has lived a very sheltered life in the city and her visits with us were the only contact she really had with nature.
1 person likes this
Fleur
@Fleura (30392)
• United Kingdom
7 Feb 21
I love rock-pooling (that's what we call them). I'm not a beach type of person - I can sit on the sand for about 5 minutes and then I go 'OK, done that, what shall we do next?' so rock-pools are my 'thing'. We have chitons here but they are small, at least the ones I've seen. How big is the one in the photo?