12 Fascinating Creatures Of The Surf

Sea anemones, Anthopleura sola engaged in a battle for territory

       Millions of tiny plants and animals that live in the sea are brought to shore by the tide. They make up the food supply of the animals that live near the beach. Shore-dwelling animals must be prepared to grasp this food and must also be able to live through the time when the tide is out. Consequently, the animals of the surf have developed very interesting forms and habits to meet these conditions. Some float in the water and are washed about by the waves; others cling to the rocks; some have hard coverings that prevent evaporation and give protection, while others have no coverings and therefore burrow down into the sand or mud along the beach.

1. The Sea Anemone has a soft body and can slide along the rocks, but usually it holds fast to the rocky ledge and looks more like a flower than an animal. It's long tentacles may be white or blue or red and look like flower petals as they wave about. They sting and grasp tiny animals for food.
2. Jellyfish, that float in the sea, may be as much as two feet in width. From the opened, umbrella-like top hang numerous tentacles with cells that sting their prey until it is numb. 
3. The Portuguese Man-of-War is one of the most beautiful of the larger jellyfish. His bright red top is very noticeable.
4. Barnacles, protected by conical shells, cling to rocks or any hard object partially covered by the sea. Through a hole in the top of the shell, the barnacle gets its food as the water washes over it. The hole can be closed during the time when the barnacle is exposed to the air. 
5. Among the barnacles, as well as on the sandy beach, are thousands of pointed periwinkles. Like the true snail, the periwinkle carries its house on its back and moves very slowly by putting its one foot forward and drawing its body up to the foot.
6. The shore snail has eyes and it can look out and up to see what is going on as it slowly “one-foots” along over the sand. The traveler keeps an eye out for danger, for at any moment a crab may come along, and then—woe unto the snail.
7. The Hermit Crab has no shell over the soft, hind part of its body, and if it does not provide protection, it may be eaten by some hungry creature. Therefore it fits itself into a snail shell.
8. The Fiddler Crab has an oversized claw on one of its front feet. This is its weapon of defense and with this claw it also protects the female. A large company of Fiddler Crabs is a funny sight. They walk along together until something frightens them, and then, as one body, they move from one side of the road to the other until they get close to their homes. Then they suddenly break rank and scoot for cover into their burrows.
9. Some bits of broken shell, sand and seaweed cemented together may be a chimney that leads to the underground home of a sand-burrowing worm. One of these worms is a beautiful creature clad in steel-blue armor with red plumes on the upper part of its body. With long, tapering tentacles it reaches out for the tiny creatures in the sand that make up its food supply.
10. The five-rayed starfish is common along the shore. There are starfish with as many as forty rays but such starfish are rare on the beach. When a starfish comes into a neighborhood, all the clams close their shells or hurriedly dig into the sand, for they are well aware that they may become its victims if it is hungry. With its long rays it can pull their shells open, and with its mouthlike stomach it can draw the soft bodies of its victims from their coverings.
11. Sea Urchins, of which Sand Dollars are a flat form, are cousins of the starfish, but they eat plants instead of animals. They draw in mud from the floor of the shallow water where they stay, and from the mud they get the plants. The Sea Urchin is globe-shaped with long, stiff spines, and the Sand Dollar is a flattened disk with short, soft spines. Both walk more by means of their spines than by their tube feet. 
12. Another cousin of the starfish is the Sea Cucumber, a long, cylinder-like creature with a fringe of tentacles around its head. When it moves it stretches forward, then pulls its body up to its head, much as a worm crawls. If an enemy approaches, the Sea Cucumber throws away some of its' body parts to scare off the intruder—a very effective defense. Later it can grow new parts to take the place of those thrown out. Thomas.

More About Animals Of The Surf:

• Exploring the Tide Pool Creatures: Adventure for kids
• Weird Creatures of the Ocean Shores. Beachcombing and Tidepooling in California
• Life In A Tide Pool and lifeinatidepool.com

The site of a tide pool in Santa Cruz, California showing sea stars, sea anemones, and sea sponges.