What in the world is this?
It lives in the water, but I have also seen it on the shore, during low tide. It can be quite tough to the touch, and prickly, and it squirms quite slow. When I see one, I'm amazed it can go anywhere, which foot does it lead with?
My daughter and I walked down at the waterfront on Tuesday evening, just about sunset. Lots of people were out fishing on the fishing pier that extends out into the water.
I've fished that pier quite a few times, but now I just go down to watch people fish. We saw a school of perch glistening in the water, and kids were going after them.
As we walked along the pier, one of these red starfish was splayed out on the dock, dehydrating. Someone had pulled it up - and left it to dry out. It was about 14 inches long, real red, with little white filaments along the legs. These starfish are all over Puget Sound, and come in a variety of colors - gold, orange, red, brown, tan.
One of the real pleasures of canoeing on still water is the opportunity to view what's 'down there', and I've filmed a lot of it - oyster beds, anenomie, sand-dollars, schools of fish, starfish, jellyfish. A polarized lense on the camera makes it very clear, and a zoom lens gets up close. As we glide along, the aquatic terrain changes. There can be oyster beds and a gravely look,sandy areas with seaweed. We'll glide over ground-up pebbles with smooth sides in a little cove, round a corner and come across rough boulders that protrude out of the water.
The variety of aquatic life and terrain is so rich, so abundant here. Just wish I knew the names of everything. I know this starfish has a fancy one...
