Exploring Eel-grass

With the excellent low tides this week I was able to poke around in the eel-grass beds at Miracle Beach Provincial Park. Patience and careful walking are required attributes for tide pool exploration. In addition, it is key to have a sharp eye for movement and small creatures. Slow wading serves to reduce the impact on the creatures living in the pools. It also helps you to spot them before they scurry to cover beneath the eel-grass.

Eel-grass | Zostera marina
Eel-grass | Zostera marina

Eel-grass (Zostera marina) is a flowering grass and reproduces by both surface pollination and submarine pollination. Rhizomes anchor the grass in the sand. Eel-grass provides valuable habitat and food source for many marine animals and birds. Herring spawn on the blades of the grass. Brant geese use eel-grass as fuel for their long migration up and down the west coast of North America. First Nations people ate the rhizomes fresh or dried.

If you look a little closer as you wade through the tide pools you’re sure to discover lots of different creatures. Several species of crabs and many fish were lurking under the cover of the grass. The coolest find of the day were several small Proliferating Anemones (Epiactis prolifera) – see photos below. Note the young anemones budding off of the parent anemone!

  • Eel-grass (Zostera marina)
  • Proliferating anemone (Epiactris prolifera)
  • Proliferating anemone (Epiactris prolifera)
  • Proliferating_anemone (Epiactris prolifera)