A month and a half in, and one quarter of the way there!

I haven't added many species at all lately, because I was very busy with work and school, and the weather was not great. I still haven't seen a mockingbird, but I did find one of the rare birds that were reported recently: the chipping sparrow.

Since it is still winter, Brooke and me are still snorkeling a lot

Brooke snorkeling in Sitka

Here is a nice sea anemone: Urticina lofotensis

Urticina lofotensis

Here is another anemone, very common but always pretty, from a Valentine's Day snorkeling trip in Leesofskaia Bay:

Metridium farcimen

For those of you who aren't familiar with the species, it's about the length and width of a person's arm.

I also found a giant nudibranch, Dendronotus iris. I do not see one of those every year.

Otherwise, most of the species I added since January were species that I will probably see again over the course of the year.

The biggest surprise last month was that I had already seen 11 species of echinoderms. Now it's an even bigger surprise to find out that I saw 18 species of echinoderms so far!!!!

One of my echinoderms showed up as a single arm on a fishing hook that had gotten hung up on the bottom. I immediately recognized it as the fish-eating starfish (also known as velcro star) Stylasterias forreri and tossed it into the bait bucket to take a picture later. When I retrieved it from the bait bucket it had attached itself to a couple of bait herring. If a fish is complacent enough to land on its back, this species of starfish is capable of catching it with its dorsal pedicellaria, and eating it. Way to go, echinoderms of Sitka Sound!

Fish-eating starfish, Stylasterias forreri

Here is the list of echinoderms seen so far this year, as of February 15:

Amphiodia occidentalis

Cucumaria miniata

Cucumaria pallida

Dendraster excentricus

Dermasterias imbricata

Evasterias troschelii

Henricia leviuscula

Leptasterias hexactis

Mediaster aequalis

Ophiopholis aculeata

Parastichopus californicus

Pisaster brevispinus

Pisaster ochraceus

Psolus chitonoides

Pycnopodia helianthoides

Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis

Strongylocentrotus franciscanus

Stylasterias forreri

Basically, I will probably end the year with 25 echinoderms, which is very, very good. I now have to look for Eupenctata spp., Cucumaria vegae, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, Strongylocentrotus pallidus, Solaster dawsoni, Solaster stimpsoni, Orthasterias koehleri, a Chiridota, and perhaps a subtidal surprise on the longline, like a crinoid, sand star, or unusual Solaster. I know people that have found slime stars, Crossasters, and black-spined sea stars here, but I have never found any of those. I will look!

And since we are on the theme of echinoderms, here are a couple more species seen in the past month:

Amphiodia occidentalis

Henricia leviuscula - the blood star - the other species of Henricia here is rare

Six armed star

Daisy brittle star - Ophiopholis aculeata

Giant pink star - Pisaster brevispinus

CUcumaria miniata and Cucumaria pallida - supposedly different species

Parastichopus californicus

Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, pale form

Introducing the thousand species project!

This year I am starting something new to me: to try and find 1,000 different species in southeast Alaska within one year.

Of course, this is still Alaska in the winter, where some habitats are buried under snow and many species are dormant, gone, or otherwise inaccessible. Thankfully, there isn't much snow and I know a few people who are willing and able to help. First of all, Brooke (above), and also Matt Goff, Kitty LaBounty, Aaron Baldwin (in Juneau), and many other people both online and in real life.

Also thankfully, things are just fine underwater:

At the very beginning of the year I was still working two jobs so I just counted a few birds at the feeders in the front yard, and at Swan Lake. Then I set up an account with a website that should help me log, identify and report the 1,000 species: http://www.inaturalist.org/

iNaturalist is a useful website because I need a place to put my observations and have others check them, and they need people to upload observations to attain critical mass. So far, they only have about a million observations, which is only a thousand people doing a project like this.

So far, over the first fifteen days I have logged 185 species. The website counts 175 or so, because of some peculiarities of the way in which they count. That's fine. The biggest suprise so far is this:

I introduce you to Chirolophis decoratus, the decorated warbonnet, an amazing fish we found snorkeling and I had never, ever seen before. Brooke actually touched it.

I predicted that I would start out with mostly birds, and so far that is mostly accurate. I found 56 birds, mostly abundant species but also a couple of rare ones, such as the American kestrel and American tree sparrow.

A surprise is that I already have seen a large number of the local echinoderms, 11 species in all, out of not very many total (echinoderms are the starfishes, sea cucumbers and sea urchins). I expect to see maybe three more sea cucumbers, one sand dollar, five more starfishes, one more brittle star, two more sea urchins, and a sea lily if I am lucky. That means I am almost halfway through that group, which is rather incredible.

I also found a couple of good nudibranch, including this stunning Tritonia festiva:

I am also almost halfway through the expected tunicates, which is less surprising since so many of them are most easily found in the harbors and the rare ones are not easily identified without DNA analysis. So far, I have observed six tunicates.

Here is my list so far, only in Latin at this time:

Pleurophycus gardneri	Alga
Chondracanthus exasperatus	Alga
Nereocystis luetkeana	Alga
Macrocystis integrifolia	Alga
Arenaria melanocephala	Bird
Catharus guttatus	Bird
Histrionicus histrionicus	Bird
Fulica americana	Bird
Larus thayeri	Bird
Aythya collaris	Bird
Bucephala clangula	Bird
Spinus pinus	Bird
Troglodytes pacificus	Bird
Agelaius phoeniceus	Bird
Brachyramphus marmoratus	Bird
Calypte anna	Bird
Haematopus bachmani	Bird
Actitis macularius	Bird
Falco sparverius	Bird
Spizella arborea	Bird
Podiceps grisegena	Bird
Uria aalge	Bird
Gavia pacifica	Bird
Phalocrocorax auritus	Bird
Melanitta fusca	Bird
Melanitta perspicillata	Bird
Larus canus	Bird
Anas crecca carolinensis	Bird
Aix sponsa	Bird
Sialia currucoides	Bird
Aythya affinis	Bird
Turdus migratorius	Bird
Bombycilla garrulus	Bird
Megaceryle alcyon	Bird
Gavia immer	Bird
Bucephala islandica	Bird
Podiceps auritus	Bird
Bucephala albeola	Bird
Phalocrocorax pelagicus	Bird
Aythya marila	Bird
Clangula hyemalis	Bird
Mergus merganser	Bird
Ardea herodias	Bird
Mergus serrator	Bird
Haliaaetus leucocephalus	Bird
Loxia curvirostra	Bird
Poecile rufescens	Bird
Ixoreus naevius	Bird
Cinclus mexicanus	Bird
Regulus satrapa	Bird
Corvus caurinus	Bird
Zonotrichia leucophrys	Bird
Melospiza melodia	Bird
Anas platyrhynchos	Bird
Anas americana	Bird
Sturnus vulgaris	Bird
Streptopelia decaocto	Bird
Passerella iliaca	Bird
Zonotrichia atricapilla	Bird
Junco hyemalis oreganus	Bird
Anthopleura artemisia	Cnidarian
Metridium senile	Cnidarian
Gersemia rubiformis	Cnidarian
Metridium farcimen	Cnidarian
Anthopleura xanthogrammica	Cnidarian
Hemigrapsus nudus	Crustacean
Hesperibalanus hesperius	Crustacean
Pentidotea wosnesenskii	Crustacean
Oregonia gracilis	Crustacean
Heptacarpus brevirostris	Crustacean
Balanus nubilus	Crustacean
Pugettia gracilis	Crustacean
Pandalus danae	Crustacean
Pandalus platyceros	Crustacean
Semibalanus cariosus	Crustacean
Hemigrapsus oregonensis	Crustacean
Munida quadrispina	Crustacean
Strongylocentrus franciscanus	Echinoderm
Pisaster ochraceus	Echinoderm
Psolus chitonoides	Echinoderm
Ophiopholis aculeata	Echinoderm
Cucumaria miniata	Echinoderm
Dermasterias imbricata	Echinoderm
Pycnopodia helianthoides	Echinoderm
Mediaster aequalis	Echinoderm
Strongylocentrus droebachiensis	Echinoderm
Parastichopus californicus	Echinoderm
Evasterias troschelii	Echinoderm
Polystichum braunii	Fern
Adiantum aleuticum	Fern
Polystichum setigerum	Fern
Huperzia miyoshiana	Fern
Polystichum andersonii	Fern
Gymnocarpium disjunctum	Fern
Equsetum variegatum	Fern
Polypodium glycyrrhiza	Fern
Artedius fenestralis	Fish
Pholis laeta	Fish
Chirolophis decoratus	Fish
Sebastes caurinus	Fish
Sebastes entomelas	Fish
Xylaria hypoxylon	Fungus
Heterotextus alpinus	Fungus
Nidula candida	Fungus
Fomitopsis pinicola	Fungus
Nidula niveotomentosa	Fungus
Pleurotopsis longinqua	Fungus
Trametes versicolor	Fungus
Ganoderma applanatum	Fungus
Cladonia cornuta	Lichen
Cladonia maxima	Lichen
Pilophorus clavatus	Lichen
Lecanora xylophila	Lichen
Caloplaca verruculifera	Lichen
Icmadophila ericetorum	Lichen
Neovison vison	Mammal
Megaptera novaeangliae	Mammal
Phoca vitulina	Mammal
Eumetopias jubatus	Mammal
Enhydra lutris	Mammal
Tamasciurus hudsonicus	Mammal
Homo sapiens	Mammal
Lottia pelta	Mollusk
Macoma balthica	Mollusk
Protothaca staminea	Mollusk
Pododesmus macrochisma	Mollusk
Aegires albopunctatus	Mollusk
Hermissenda crassicornis	Mollusk
Doris montereyensis	Mollusk
Katharina tunicata	Mollusk
Tritonia festiva	Mollusk
Acanthodoris hudsoni	Mollusk
Ceratostoma foliatum	Mollusk
Lirabuccinum dirum	Mollusk
Cryptochiton stelleri	Mollusk
Tonicella lineata	Mollusk
Amphissa columbiana	Mollusk
Acmaea mitra	Mollusk
Mytilus trossulus	Mollusk
Clinocardium nuttallii	Mollusk
Hylocomium splendens	Moss
Vaccinium oxycoccos	Plant
Picea sitchensis	Plant
Alnus viridis ssp. Sinuata	Plant
Boschniakia rossica	Plant
Lysichiton americanus	Plant
Elliottia pyroloflorus	Plant
Claytonia sibirica	Plant
Plantago major	Plant
Maianthemum dilatatum	Plant
Phyllospadix serrulatus	Plant
Geum macrophyllum	Plant
Senecio vulgaris	Plant
Aruncus dioicus	Plant
Sambucus racemosa	Plant
Oplopanax horridus	Plant
Juniperus communis	Plant
Empetrum nigrum	Plant
Ledum groenlandicum	Plant
Kalmia polyfolia	Plant
Pinus contorta var. contorta	Plant
Tsuga mertensiana	Plant
Moneses uniflora	Plant
Cupressus nootkatensis	Plant
Tiarella trifoliata	Plant
Rubus pedatus	Plant
Cornus canadensis	Plant
Menziesia ferruginea	Plant
Coptis asplenifolia	Plant
Tsuga heterophylla	Plant
Rubus spectabilis	Plant
Taraxacum officinale	Plant
Digitalis purpurea	Plant
Ranunculus repens	Plant
Heracleum maximum	Plant
Alnus rubra	Plant
Pyura haustor	Tunicate
Ascidia columbiana	Tunicate
Halocynthia igaboja	Tunicate
Metandrocarpa taylori	Tunicate
Botryllus schlosseri	Tunicate
Botrylloides violaceus	Tunicate
Eudistylia vancouveri	Worm
Serpula columbiana	Worm
Myxicola infundibulum	Worm

A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king...

I am working on confirming the identification of this flatworm, so I thought I'd just put a few worm pictures up along with it. This is a flatworm, or platyhelminth. Yes, that's the same group of flatworms that sometimes live in the digestive systems of land mammals, including us.

This flatworm may be Notoplana sanguinea, which may not be confirmed in the Sitka area at this time.

Update: The identification, according to Aaron Baldwin of Juneau, is correct. He was even kind enough to send me a beautiful picture of the same species, that he took right here in Sitka when he was a professor at SJ college. I will not post it in case he wants to control it.


This one is a nemertea, or ribbon worm. It's quite common I think, and is probably Tubulanus polymorphus.


This one is pretty and also very common. Allow me to introduce you to the tubeworm Eudistylia vancouveri. I just learned that the "feather duster" group of tubeworms is a subset of the polichaete worms. As always, I learn as I write.


Stay tuned for more glamorous critters!

Some starfishes found south of Sitka

I went on a five day kayaking trip south of town, and saw and experienced so much that it's going to take a few posts to cover it. This one will be dedicated to starfishes. I know that scientist types always insist that we call starfishes "sea stars," on the grounds that they are not fishes. True enough, they are not fishes, but they are not stars, either, so leave the English language alone!

This starfish may look familiar to attentive readers of the blog (yes, both of you). It is Solaster stimpsoni - the Stimpson's sun star that I included in an earlier blog entry. This one isn't as pretty, but much, much more typical of the species' normal limp rag attitude.


This one is always popular. It is the very common sunflower star, or Pycnopodia helianthoides. It is often orange, and considered a top predator in soft substrates. The largest ones are one meter across.


Why did the computer tip some of my photos on their sides??? Oh well. This is the #1 most common stafish in Sitka Sound: the ochre star Pisaster ochraceus. It is found high in the tidal zone, and comes in the following colors (or flavors, as some like to say): chocolate, grape, and orange.


This pretty and not terribly common starfish is the rainbow star, Orthasterias koehleri.


Always a popular starfish, this one is called Mediaster aequalis. Ihave only found it a dozen times or so.


And this one is the best find of the trip: an undescribed species of the Genus Henricia. It looks just like EC21 in Andy Lamb's "Marine life of the Pacific Northwest." However, probably the same taxon in Lambert's "Sea Stars of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, and Puget Sound" has six rays ("arms") and looks strangely like a Leptasterias. According to a biologist, this is indeed the still-unnamed species that the University of British Columbia was working on describing. I found it in Beauchamp Island, but did not collect it for genetic testing (Sorry - I guess someone at UC Fullerton wanted it). If you find one, I guess it's supposed to be placed in ethyl alcohol.


Okay, it's not a starfish, but a close relative. This little guy is very common in some places, and is called a daisy brittle star, Ophiopholis aculeata.


This is another relative of the starfishes: the extremely common orange sea cucumber Cucumaria miniata.


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Slimy critters found on Peisar Island, Alaska

This is still part of my effort to promote beachcombing, which also includes living animals often found at low tide. Here is a small selection from that same morning walk, of photos taken between rain squalls.

This little kelp crab is Pugettia richii:


And this black-clawed crab is called Lophopanopeus bellus:


This is one of my favorite crabs, the diminutive Petrolisthes eriomerus:


I think this is a sea cucumber I hadn't spotted before, the Cucumaria pallida, which is closely related to the other blob on the same rock, the very common Cucumaria miniata:


Clingfishes (also known as sucker fishes) are just really fun to harass. This one is called Sicyogaster maeandricus:


These are two forms of the starfish Henricia leviuscula, and the commensal scale worm on the arm of the larger specimen may be an Arctonoe vittata:


This tiny starfish belongs to a difficult genus: the Leptasterias, or six-armed star. I think this one belongs to the Leptasterias hexactis species complex:


This one is easy and ubiquitous. It smells somewhat like garlic, and is called Dermasterias imbricata:


This is a shell of the Oregon triton, known in Latin as Fusitriton oregonensis. They usually lose their hair before I find them.


This is the "ugly clam," or Entodesma navicula. According to seashell collector, the "outer skin" shrinks as it dries, and causes the shell to implode. A preventative measure is to soak the shell in glycerin.


And this is Cryptochiton stelleri, usually just called "gumboot chiton. Its little hitch-hiker is an opalescent nudibranch Hermissenda crassicornis. Strangely enough, they are both essentially slugs.


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Spring kayak trip

Not everyone goes kayaking in this time of the year, but it can be pretty fun. This first overnight trip of the year was supposed to go from South Sitka to Brent's Beach and back, but we ended up getting hit with some wind, and came back to the North end of the road via Olga Straits, for a trip total of about 28 miles.

This is a whiteout in Krestof Sound, with so much snowfall at times that it formed polygons in the calm spots. My kayak is actually yellow on top, but it was thickly covered in snow at that time:


This is a great-looking Stimpson's sun star Solaster stimpsoni - a species that usually looks like a limp rag:


This is Brent's Beach cabin, on Kruzof Island:


Kamenoi Beach, with Cathy collecting seashells for her artwork:


The humpback whales were pursuing herring, so although they got pretty close at times, they were less predictable than late summer whales:


Cathy even liked paddling in the snow.


And this is a bald eagle, of course, on a rock south off the Kasianas:


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More pictures!

I said I'd post more pictures. But first I have to address a question I'll undoubtedly be getting from people outside Alaska.

What's with Sarah Palin?

Well, I had no idea she would get the VP candidacy, either. In fact, I heard persistent rumors about it months ago, and discounted them with the same certainty that I had resorted to in order to discount the rumors that Lieberman would get that spot on the McCain ticket: "ridiculous - it'll never happen!"

Well, I was wrong, and that's it. I thought for sure McCain would get a credible VP because he's old enough that he could have an incapacitating stroke or something. I thought McCain would get someone with a good economic record (for example, who doesn't mail $3,000 to every state resident). I thought that McCain would pick someone who's not under investigation, and who isn't from a state where it seems that every other GOP official is under investigation.

So much for Alaska voting democrat for the first time in decades! She is still popular enough here that the Obama campaing in this state is largely a waste of funds. Thankfully, there are many opportunities to effect change in local government, in the upcoming October and November ballots for those of you who ar registered to vote here. The Tuesday election was not a total disaster, either.

So I have been working on a boat just like this one (I took a picture of it because it is hard to photograph my own boat, the St. Michael):


Here is a humpback whale, lobtailing off Kita Island:


A gumboot chiton I found kayaking:


An abalone, also found while kayaking:


A whale breaching off Viesokoi Rock:


A photo of orcas that another crewmember took with my camera:


Kayaking heaven, and my kayak hauled out:


One of my favorite bald eagle nests:


An ophiuroidea "brittle star" on a leather star:


A whale's fluke off Vitskari Rock:


And another one, in slightly heavier weather:


I'm leaving town tomorrow, and I'll be overseas in a couple of days or so.

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