Edmonds Dock Tour

We spent an hour looking for near-surface plants and animals around the public boat dock at the town of Edmonds, in northwest Washington State, on May 29, 2001. Edmonds is on the shore of Puget Sound, an inlet of the eastern North Pacific Ocean. We saw many creatures, including barnacles and mussels, forage fish, jellyfish, sea gardens, nudibranch, young salmon, plankton, harbor seals, and Canada geese.

Use the link to the Edmonds Dock Tour (at page bottom) to see what we discovered. We were especially interested in learning about how these animals could be affected by spilled oil (a) floating on the water surface, and (b) oil that's been dispersed farther down into the water.

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Puget Sound Marine Life Photos Photo collections of Puget Sound marine life, including vegetation, invertebrates, mammals, and fish, assembled by King County, Washington, Department of Natural Resources. [leaves OR&R site]

Puget Sound Shorelines: Tide Pools A description of some of the animal life that can be found in a tide pool, prepared by the Washington State Department of Ecology. [leaves OR&R site]

Puget Sound Shorelines: Sand Lance A brief description of sand lance and their spawning habits, prepared by the Washington State Department of Ecology. [leaves OR&R site]

Puget Sound Shorelines: Surf Smelt Surf smelt, and their spawning habits, prepared by the Washington State Department of Ecology. [leaves OR&R site]

Puget Sound Shorelines: Salmon A brief description of salmon and their habitats, prepared by the Washington State Department of Ecology. [leaves OR&R site]

Puget Sound Shorelines: Salmon & Nearshore Areas How salmon use nearshore waters (shallow saltwater, wetlands, estuaries, beaches, and bluffs) of Puget Sound. Prepared by the Washington State Department of Ecology. [leaves OR&R site]

Puget Sound Shorelines: Harbor Seals Harbor seal facts and information, prepared by the Washington State Department of Ecology. [leaves OR&R site]

Marine Invertebrates in the Plankton Part of a group project of the 2000 Marine Invertebrate Zoology class at the Friday Harbor Laboratories, San Juan Island, WA. Click "Plankton" in the left margin. The section, "Local Invertebrate Groups" contains pictures of representative planktons that exist in Puget Sound. [leaves OR&R site]

East Sound Phytoplankton Photographs and notes, prepared by Jan Rines, PhD, on phytoplankton (microscopic plants) found in the waters of East Sound, in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. [leaves OR&R site]

The Plankton Project A lesson plan for teachers of 4th-6th grade students, produced as part of the Marine Discovery public outreach program at the University of Arizona. Includes activities in which students "create" their own plankton, match pictures of juvenile (plankton) forms to their adult (non-plankton) forms, create a marine food chain, and conduct an experiment about filter feeding. [leaves OR&R site]

The Great Plankton Race A University of Arizona Marine Discovery lesson plan for teachers of 5th-6th grade students. Students learn that plankton have a variety of unique adaptations that help them avoid sinking below the sunlit surface waters of the ocean, called the photic zone. Students will construct plankton models from materials of various shapes and densities to simulate adaptations that slow sinking. They will then "race" their models (slowest wins), and calculate sinking rates. [leaves OR&R site]

Video Clips After you've visited the photo gallery, come back to this page and view some of the short video clips featuring the plants and animals in the gallery.

Harbor Seals In this video clip, two harbor seals are "hauled out" on the perimeter of a bait pen. At first, they don't notice us as they rest and relax. Suddenly, one of the seals looks directly us; however, it seems unconcerned by our presence and returns to its rest. At the end of the clip, the camera gradually zooms out to show us the seals' location outside the marina bait shop. (Movie format: RealPlayer, size: 357.5 K)

Jellyfish In this video clip, a young jellyfish propels itself through the water. The jellyfish's movement is similar to an umbrella being opened and shut slowly. The jellyfish moves by contracting muscles on its underside to propel a jet of water out of its body. As the water is pushed in one direction, the jellyfish moves in the opposite direction. (Movie format: RealPlayer, size: 279.7 K)

Nudibranch This video clip begins with a view of a red gilled nudibranch floating upside down on the surface of the water. Next, we see a closer view of the nudibranch, contracting and expanding its muscles to move forward along the bottom of a clear container. We get a good look at its cerata: long, reddish, feathery projections all along its back. The final view shows the nudibranch moving around the container. We can see the sensory structures on its head [rhinophores] undulating as it moves. (Movie format: RealPlayer, size: 607.6 K)

Salmon Fingerlings A school of salmon fingerlings dart through the water in this video clip. We can see the dark dorsal surfaces of the fish, as well as flashes of their silvery sides, as they race through the water. (Movie format: RealPlayer, size: 207.4 K)

Sea Gardens This video clip begins by showing a variety of creatures moving gently in the water. Green feather duster worms and seaweed sway with the current. Next, we see a closer view of white tunicates, with their air intake and discharge syphons visible, and what might be an orangish-colored sponge. The video again shows feather duster worms, before it pans to a closeup of a tunicate rocking gently with the current. (Movie format: RealPlayer, size: 443.0 K)

Solitary Salmon This video clip shows a solitary young salmon swimming through the water. As the camera gradually zooms, we get a close view until the salmon darts to its left. Next, the salmon appears to be checking the surface debris for food. (Movie format: RealPlayer, size: 360.2 K)

Canada Geese This video clip shows a family of Canada Geese [two adults and five baby geese, or goslings] swimming quickly toward us on the dock. One parent [likely the mother] leads the group of goslings, with the other parent [likely the father] guarding the rear. Besides being larger than their offspring, the adult geese have different markings than the goslings. Each adult goose has a black head and neck, with white cheek patches that meet on its throat. Each adult has a white breast, with brownish flanks, and a black back, rump, and tail. The goslings have more downy feathers than the adults, and their coloring is light brown, with no distinct color differences. As we move along the dock, the family follows us, quite likely because the geese are accustomed to being fed by humans. (Movie format: RealPlayer, size: 489.4 K)

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Edmonds Dock Tour See photos of the many plants and animals we found when we spent an hour at the public boat dock at the town of Edmonds, Washington. (10 images)