Isn’t that a horn snail?

Beyond the Beach Blanket: A Field Guide to Southern Coastal Wildlife

Marina Curtis Tidwell

Mountain Press Publishing:

256 pp, $18

Southern California tide pools and sandy shallows are pulsing with bivalves, birds, crustaceans, fish and mammals that can be viewed in their natural habitat -- if you know where to look. “Beyond the Beach Blanket” details these riches and tells where to find them in this full-sized field guide.

The book covers marine life observable in each tide zone, such as sea stars, California horn snails and an occasional octopus found in low tidal areas, and bedding bivalves, bean clams and meaty pismos that inhabit mid tidal zones.

The book also covers migration routes and life cycles, such as the gray whale’s 12,500-mile round trip from the Bering Straits in Alaska to Baja and back.

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Michael Koehn