During the six-hour transition from high tide to low tide, sea stars search for mussel meals. Hermit crabs scavenge in shallow pools for food and new shell-homes. As the tide continues to drop, anemones close tightly, their flowery tentacles protected inside their jelly-like bodies. Limpets, periwinkles, and chitons wait for the tide's return to continue grazing on algae-covered rocks. At high tide, it's meal time.
Plankton flows into the pools on each wave, feeding barnacles, mussels and worms.
Seaweed, or marine algae, glistens through the waves, in bright greens, pinks, browns and reds. The watery world comes alive with fish, octopi, urchins, anemones, snails, crabs and sea stars. Instead of a backbone, some animals have rigid exoskeletons that protect them from drying out, being eaten and being smashed to pieces by the pounding surf. Barnacles, sea stars, limpets, crabs, chitons and sea snails all have hard shells for protection. Anemones, sponges and nudibranchs have very soft and flexible bodies that absorb wave impact.