Two Unique Discoveries: Carlsbad Tide Pools

 I will take all of the credit for finding two icky-yet-cool sea critters.

In a clump of seaweed I found two animals that were actually MANY animals.

Velella is a monospecific genus of hydrozoa in the Porpitidae family. Its only known species is Velella velella, a cosmopolitan free-floating hydrozoan that lives on the surface of the open ocean. It is commonly known by the names sea raft, by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella.

Lepas anatifera, commonly known as the pelagic gooseneck barnacle or smooth gooseneck barnacle, is a species of barnacle in the family Lepadidae. These barnacles are found, often in large numbers, attached by their flexible stalks to floating timber, the hulls of ships, piers, pilings, seaweed and various sorts of flotsam.

Link to unscientific video with me yelling for people to get their shoes so we can beat the incoming tide past the seawall.

Gooseneck barnacle

We had a good and sandy visit that also included donuts!