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Be still, my heart (urchin)!
Unlike most sea urchins, which are round, heart urchins appear heart-shaped, elongate with a small depression at one end for the mouth.
Our taxonomists “name that species!”
Meet the two new taxonomists that recently joined the monitoring team, Dany Burgess and Angela Eagleston.
The brittle stars embody nature's fragility...and resilience
The brittle stars truly are in a class all their own.
What the shell? The tusk shells are in a class all their own
Tusk shells belong to the Class Scaphopoda, meaning boat foot. In contrast to a real elephant's ivory tusk, a scaphopod's conical shell is open on both ends.
Dark got you down? Shine a little light with the lamp shells
It's that special time of year when we feel like we dwell in darkness 24 hours a day. Let’s shed a little light on the gloom with this month’s critter group: the lamp shells.
Another day, another (Pacific sand) dollar
If you escaped to the Washington’s coastline this summer to beat the heat, you probably walked by the remains of this month’s critter: the Pacific sand dollar.
Celebrate Pride! The ornate tube worm sports all the colors of the rainbow
Our benthic taxonomists share details on critters in sediment habitats, including life history, and the role each critter plays in the community. This month's focus is the Ornate Tube Worm.
Going nuts over the peanut worms
Peanut worms belong to the phylum Sipuncula, meaning "little tube or siphon." They can retract their bodies into a tubular trunk like a balled up pair of socks.
Size matters — What can we learn from biomass and size classification?
We're studying benthic invertebrate biomass (critter size) for the first time on a large scale in Puget Sound.
My heart will go on: the humble heart cockle lives long and prospers
The heart cockle is a bivalve named for its heart-shaped profile. They are the largest cockles on the west coast, reaching almost 6 inches in length.