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The ribbed, orange-and-brown mollusk was about the size of a quarter.
“A lot of people don’t know what’s out here,” said Quirke, a student at The Evergreen State College. “They think it’s just rock and smelly mud, but I’ve been amazed at how much is out here.”
Quirke was one of several volunteer beach naturalists who spent Sunday afternoon helping folks identify marine plants and animals during low tide at Burfoot Park near Olympia.
The program is one of 27 free low-tide beach naturalist programs that will be offered by the South Sound Estuary Association on most weekends through Aug. 28 at Burfoot, Tolmie State, Priest Point and Fry Cove parks.
The beach naturalists wear khaki vests and carry small nets and guide books. Their job is to look for interesting and unusual intertidal life and answer the ever-popular question, “What’s this?” The programs aren’t just about identifying critters; they’re also about helping people in the community feel more connected to Puget Sound, program coordinator Leihla Scharlau said.
“We’re the second-largest estuary in the United States,” she said, noting that Chesapeake Bay on the Atlantic Ocean is the largest. “If people get out here, they’ll see what we’re trying to protect.”
On Sunday, naturalists helped identify moon snail egg casings, horse clam shells, cockleshells, sea lettuce, sea noodles, sugar kelp, jelly fish, molted crabs and nudibranches.
Rayma Clearwater of Rochester held a croissant-sized moon snail in her hand as Quirke explained that the amber-and-gold gastropod eats clams and has a body that’s twice the size of its shell.
“It looks kind of like Jabba the Hutt,” Clearwater said.
Thanks to the beach naturalist program, Clearwater said, she learned quite a bit about marine life and what goes on in the sand, rocks and tidal pools along Puget Sound.
“There are so many really small things that you might not notice unless you take the time to look,” she said.
Lisa Pemberton: 360-754-5433
lpemberton@theolympian.com
