Some thoughts and shots

God's Own Worm

Phyllodoce violacea, God's Own Worm. 

Collected on the reef crest at Tangke Beach, Saipan by NMC students on a reef lab.

Invasion

Gemma gemma, an invasive clam, at Crab Cove, Alameda.  These are the intermediate hosts of parasites of the (also invasive) Green Crabs.  These are apparently full grown.  A long windrow along the beach at Crab Cove on

El Nino brought them North

The large Sea Hare Aplysia californica was widely reported from California last summer.  They are not ordinarily present in Northern California, but often seen in Southern California, in particular at Coal Oil Point, north of Isla Vista.  Steinbeck reported on a year earlier in the 20th Century when they were seen in Monterey Bay and British Columbia.  They were seen in Tide Pools in Pacific Grove in 2015.

In the press in Alameda, they were reported as "Purple Blobs."   These sea hare were photographed at the boathouse near Encinal High School on Alameda, along with the egg mass, below, looking like spaghetti. 

 
In Chuuk, we ate egg masses of other large ophistobranchs, though I cannot attest to the safety of these.