Students Rise to Occasion as Lower Tides Expose Sea Life

At 1:47 p.m. Tuesday, the Pacific Ocean ebbed from the shores of Orange County in one of the lowest tides of the year, unveiling a kaleidoscope of sea life.

Technicolored anemones, clusters of red sea stars and thousands of dark-blue mussels were left exposed to the air. Eelgrass, usually waving upright beneath the ocean surface, lay flat like green rugs carpeting undersea boulders.

The phenomenon attracted the usual tide-pool sightseers at Aliso Beach in South Laguna. But this time they were greeted by a band of energetic students handing out leaflets that said, in essence: “Look but don’t touch.”

The leafleters were members of the newly formed Environmental Information and Action Alliance, an organization of students from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Dana Hills High School in Dana Point.

Their adviser, Lee Waian, a Saddleback College professor, said the alliance was launched about a month ago to increase awareness of the environment. The two schools joined forces because they share Marvin Sherrill, a part-time teacher at Saddleback who also teaches full time at Dana Hills, Waian said.

“These low tides are a very beautiful time for visitors to see the sea life, but they’re a dangerous time for the sea life itself,” Waian said. “That’s why we’re here.”

Some very large outgoing tides this month and next month will make tide-pool sea life in Orange County especially vulnerable, Waian said. These “minus tides,” as they are called, are lower than the average lowest daily tides. The winter minus tides drop more than 1 foot vertically.

Rich Meyer, a technical assistant with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, said Tuesday that minus tides expose huge areas that are underwater most of the year.

“When you have level land, as around many of your beaches, a 1-foot vertical drop in the ocean water means large areas of horizontal land (are left exposed),” Meyer said.

Meyer said Orange County beaches will get their lowest tides of the winter this week and again Jan. 5 through 10. The lowest minus tide this week will come Thursday at 3:12 p.m., when the reading is forecast to be minus 1.4 feet below the average lowest tide.

Two more minus-1.4 tides are forecast for Jan. 7 and Jan. 8 in Orange County, Meyer said.

The student environmentalists targeted only the Laguna Beach area Tuesday, but Waian said they will visit other sea-life areas in the county in future months. There appeared to be few visitors at other beach and tide-pool areas in Orange County on Tuesday.

For the student group, volunteer duty in Laguna Beach on Tuesday afternoon became a baptism of fire. Waian gathered the students into a semicircle about 1:20 p.m. near the base of Aliso Pier.

“We’re not police,” Waian told them. “We’re here to provide information about how people can help protect the tide pools. And we’re here to warn people it’s against the law to carry things off from the tide pools. But we’re not here to have any confrontations--as tempting as it may be to grab someone you see hauling off a sack of things from the tide pools.”

After the briefing, Waian dispatched some students to the tide-pool areas near Main Beach and Heisler Park in downtown Laguna Beach. Others walked north of Aliso Pier, and some to the massive clusters of exposed rock south of the pier.

As it turned out, the cold day attracted just a scattering of visitors, none of whom tried to carry off any sea life. The students met nothing but smiles as they talked to tourists and other beach walkers in the Aliso Pier area.

At Aliso Beach, 15-year-old Tara Shima, a Dana Hills High sophomore from Laguna Niguel, found no visitors at her assigned area of the tide pools. So she, like her other classmates, investigated the clusters of sea life exposed from the rocks.

“I’m here because I want to do something to help our environment,” Tara said. “There’s been so much building going on in Orange County. The area is growing so crowded and smoggy. Maybe if people like us take a stand, others will be more careful with the environment.”

Nearby, Roy Long of San Clemente walked among the tide-pool rocks with his dog, Chaz, as 17-year-old Stefan Tomic a Dana Hills High senior from Dana Point, approached him with a leaflet and a brief explanation.

Long smiled and chatted with Stefan and some of the other students.

“I think this is great,” Long said. “It’s nice these kids are out trying to stop people from taking things from here.”

ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSCEPTIBLE SPECIES

Opaleye

Spawn during April, May and June. Mature at 2 to 3 years, reach 8 to 9 inches. Feed on algae and eelgrass, apparently taking most of their nourishment from small animals living on the plants.

Giant green anemone

Solitary, but often in tentacle-tip contact with one another in favorable tide pools and channels. Bright green when living in open daylight. Feed on animals they can sting and engulf, including crabs, fish and detached mussels.

California mussel

Dominates mussel beds in exposed rocky situations along Pacific Coast. Elongated shells, larger than any other mussel.

Chiton

Mertens’ Chiton spawns in February. Egg cases have ridgelike projections with wavy edges. Species name honors Carl H. Mertens (1796-1830), a German physician-naturalist.

Wavy turban

Moves into shallower, warmer water when it reproduces. Abundant in shallow water in Southern California. Larger specimens found in deeper water, especially among kelp.

Pacific rock crab

Phylum arthropoda, class crustacea. A scavenger and predator, successful at devouring hermit crabs.

Octopus

Commonly found between high and low tide lines, on mud flats as well as among rocks. One of two closely related species of Two-spotted octopods, first differentiated in 1949.

Giant sea star

Red, brown, tan or purple with blue rings around base of spines. Radius of 12 inches. Body rough, firm; arms thick; spines large and well-spaced.

Purple sea urchin

Often live in rounded depressions in rock, which they slowly erode with their teeth and spines.

Volcano limpet

Preyed upon by sea stars, which it can detect at short distances; responds by fleeing. Reddish or purple streaks on the slopes of shell resemble streaks of lava.

Source: Environmental Studies Department, Saddleback College VERY LOW TIDES Tides lower than average, called “minus tides” are occurring along the Orange County coast.The minus readings are in feet and represent how much lower the tide is than the average lowest daily tide. Days and times for these minus tides:

Day Time Tide Today 2:30p.m. -1.0 Thursday 3:12p.m. -1.4 Friday 3:53p.m. -1.3 Saturday 4:30p.m. -1.1 Sunday 5:08p.m. -o.7