Hurricane Ike’s several days of above normal tides and high surf left behind a wonderful tide pool on Treasure Island Beach. It is filled with live pen shells, sea urchins, and thousands of live Muddy Cerith shells.
I intended to start the day off with a brisk walk on the beach, but since I had my camera with me (I never go to the beach without my camera), my walk turned into more of a “find and photograph” session. It isn’t often I find such a variety of life and death on the beach.
The most obvious shells on the beach this morning were pen shells. I actually smelled them before I saw them. Some of the pen shells still submerged in the tide pools were still alive. The animal inside is quite beautiful.
Above is a photo of a live pen shell with a sea urchin and several other species of shells on it. These shells are in the clear tide pool, which was about 8 inches deep.
It isn’t often I see a live tulip shell on the beach, but this one was stranded between the tide pool and the Gulf. I picked it up and enjoyed looking at it and then placed it back into the Gulf waters.
Oystercatchers, with their bright orange-red bills, are normally very shy, but this one allowed me to approach quite closely and I took some nice photos.
A sea heroe takes a stand in the beach wrack. The sea is full of toys and treasure.
