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Fins to Feather

by Scarlet Colley - August - 2003

How many of us walk the beach, listening to the shore music. The music varies from day to day depending on the winds. Gentle winds bring a quiet lull as tiny waves lap the shore. As winds gain strength so does the crescendo of sound as the waves gain in strength, rushing up to the beach in a race. As winds increase the waves begin crashing and roaring and the symphony becomes loud and rings of an event out at sea. Each of these scores bring different feelings as we walk along the edge of this great body of sea water. This water breathes life and seems to breathe life into us as well.

We are in wonder as we breathe in deeply and fill our senses with the flavor of the salty sea. We reach down to scoop the soft white sand letting it slip thru our hands like the sands of an hour glass. Now use our eyes to fill us with wonder even more. The water stretching to the horizon with blue skies meeting it in reflection. We peer down five feet below us at our feet as we approach the waters edge. The sand feels wet and cool and firm after the soft trek thru the dunes. Here we see tiny objects and our mind begins to wonder about it all. What are these things that the sea has gently pushed up onto the shore as if to say goodbye to one more life cycle. Now it becomes part of our world.

The pieces of shell that once were alive on the ocean floor now lay at our feet. Remnants of an oyster, a scotch bonnet, a tellin, a sand dollar and many other species lay scattered to become part of the beach sand. The sand itself is so tiny that in one handful we hold millions of grains of various sizes and shapes. This sand provides a home for many types of creatures that live just under the surface. The little mole crab makes all those holes we wonder about. This little creature is built to dig down in the sand with its cylindrical form. Its little legs are short and stout with a long, blade like, digging part called a telson. This enables mole crabs to burrow very quickly into the sand as the sand gels around it and gives way. This event of the sand liquefying when stirred in the surf zone allows these burrowing creatures to move around in the sand. It is called thixotropy.

Our attention turns to the purple bubble lying just ahead. A Portuguese man o war, dying soon to be buried into the sand. Its beauty is still to be marveled at with the pink iridescent glow on the outer ruffled edge to the deep royal blue along its sides. It is not the bubble that will sting but the gel of tentacles around it. Not a good idea to touch! A piece of Sargasso seaweed washed up is being investigated by a little shore bird we all love to watch, as it runs in and out of the waves, a sanderling. This brave little fellow, will peck out any little shrimp, crabs or fish that live in this wonderfully interesting floating city of the ocean. Tiny air filled sacs keep the Sargasso afloat and will pop like bubble wrap.

Perhaps a shell may still be intact to take home as a souvenir. A piece of drift wood or even a piece of trash can have sea life attached to it. Gooseneck barnacles are often hanging from their brown necks with delightful, white shell like bodies, trimmed in orange. The brilliant yellow or red strands of string, laying around in clumps or single strands, are not string at all but a whip coral. If found still supple, digging a little pool of water and placing a strand of it in that water , tiny polyps will open up like miniature flowers.

Each day the sea yields more of its life to us and we can only be in awe of it all. As we head back to the comforts of the air conditioned room or home, another creature we all seem to take notice of is the ghost crab as it scurries back to its hole near the dunes up away from the waters edge. Its burrows can be as deep as four feet depending on the water level near its burrow. The larger the crab the further away from the water they live and the deeper the burrow is. These crabs actually communicate with one another and interact socially. As we lick our lips to moisten them, leaving the beach we taste the essence of it all, salt. Now with our curiosity of nature stirring our thoughts its time to do some reading. There are many books and field guides on the gulf coast marine life or a visit to the Coastal Studies lab on South Padre Island. The no. there is 956-761-2644