Netarts Bay, Oregon is located just west of Tillamook. This was the second year we met as a group there.  Just like last year, we spent the night in a secluded family bayside cabin and hoped to get to the bay at low tide, which was around 6:30 AM, but we slept in and were about 2 hours late.  No big thing-- at least there was enough light to take photos!

»»»» Click on the small images to see larger ones !

2netartsbay.gif (2688 bytes) Looking down on Netarts Bay from the town of Netarts.  The tide is slowly coming in.  There are nearly 500 harbor seals which make their home in this bay.  Later, as we waded in the bay, we saw over 100 of them climb onto the sand bar in the distance to sleep.

2amynetarts.gif (2676 bytes) Amy saying "Would you please put that camera down and help?"

2laynNrachel.gif (3287 bytes) Layn and Rachel

2cumacean.gif (2798 bytes) We found 2 of these, and I think they're a crustacean called a cumacean.  One fell out of the mouth of a fish as we cleaned it.   Tucked underneath is its slender abdomen.

2inshell.gif (2842 bytes) Large shells were ideal for holding small organisms for photographs.  This one contains a small seastar, crab, several sculpins (possibly fluffy sculpins Oligocottus snyderi), a penpoint gunnel Apodichthys flavidus, and a small clam.

2kelpcrab.gif (3360 bytes) Kelp crab Pugettia producta

 2moonsnail.gif (3463 bytes) Jay and moon snail Polinices lewisii.   This is our largest intertidal snail.  It is a pure carnivore and feeds by drilling holes in clams and sucking out their tissue.

 2moonsnail2.gif (3543 bytes) Moon snail close-up

2sculpshrimp.gif (3031 bytes) Shrimp and sculpins were especially numerous.   This may be the tidepool sculpin Oligocottus maculosus.

Within 1-1/2 hours, all of the exposed intertidal areas in the first photo were covered with water, and boats were moving into the area.  This productive and scenic bay is enjoyed by many people and we were glad to be among them.

We found an interesting invertebrate in our net which we hadn't seen before.   It looked like a fish eye, because it was globe-shaped, about 2 cm in diameter and clear.  Dan Logan casually mentined that it looked like a gooseberry, and it did.   He speculated that it may be some type of Ctenophore (comb jelly).  Back at the cabin, a review of the book Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast, by Eugene N. Kozloff, revealed that it was Pleurobrachia bachei, the "sea gooseberry".  Once again Dan proved his genius to us all!   We think we'll keep him.

We then went on to enjoy other activities like fishing and birdwatching.   We angled at a nearby jetty and caught 4 species of fish: pile perch, kelp greenling, brown rockfish and Pacific staghorn sculpin. 

waynrach2.gif (3263 bytes) Wayne and Rachel fishing at the jetty

lisa2.gif (3029 bytes) Lisa fishing

jayperch2.gif (3791 bytes) shiner surfperch

perch2.gif (2857 bytes) shiner surfperch up close

norm2.gif (2935 bytes) Norm and brown rockfish

rockfish2.gif (2718 bytes) brown rockfish

3amigos2.gif (3303 bytes) 3 amigos holding one mighty big Pacific staghorn sculpin

greenling2.gif (2658 bytes) kelp greenling

crab2.gif (3704 bytes) We caught quite a few Dungeness crabs, too

Back at the cabin, Dan gave a demonstration on fish anatomy and aging fish with scales and otoliths.  We enjoyed a delicious meal and a slide show and chatted until we were too tired to stay awake.  The next day on our way home we enjoyed fresh ice cream at the nearby Tillamook cheese and ice cream factory and visited a salmon and trout hatchery.  Then we headed home after our eventful weekend.