Underwater Grossology – Part 1

In celebration of our Grossology exhibit, we present to you some of our tide pool animals. This week we’ll discuss the very popular California sea cucumber (Parastichopus californicus).

Normally a sea cucumber cruising around the shallow water and looking classy in red velvet may seem like the farthest thing from disgusting. But look a little deeper – into its gut, in fact, and you will see plenty of fascinating grossology at work.

First is its ability to eviscerate, a behavior common among sea cucumbers. Under great stress such as from a predator, sea cucumbers are able to eject their guts – not just their gut content but also the actual lining of the digestive system – in the direction of the danger as an emergency form of self-defense. The stringy gut material entangles the predator, slowing or stopping it while the cucumber escapes. If this defense works, the animal can then regrow its gut lining, which is taxing to its body but preferable to being eaten.

Please don’t squeeze sea cucumbers. Defensive eviscerating is a last ditch survival behavior that you don’t want to make them do, and you don’t want that stuff on your hands!

California sea cucumbers also eviscerate on an annual cycle, with the gut breaking down in late autumn and regrowing in winter and early spring. During that time they absorb nutrients through the respiratory trees in their anus. These organs, which normally facilitate oxygen exchange, can apparently also uptake nutrients.

Right now our California sea cucumber is not in its regenerative phase, and is eating with its mouth and using its anus to breathe and to defecate. You can see its cute sandy poops scattered around the tide pool. How gross is that?


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Gifts from the MaST Center

Guests who were around at Pacific Science Center’s Salt Water Tide Pool at noon Friday got the wonderful experience of meeting a bevy of new creatures.

Staff and volunteers from Highline Community College’s MaST (Marine Science and Technology) Center led by Kaddee Lawrence, with expert information from Rus Higley, hand delivered a group of exciting Puget Sound organisms. These new residents are for us to share with anyone who wants to learn more about the diversity of our regional shoreline.

In addition to bringing an infusion of bright color, the animals are an assorted mix of species. Best of all, they are a mix of non-aggressive animals that will not try to eat each other.

Many of the sea stars in our collection are Pisaster species, among the most predacious of all creatures in the intertidal zone. Yet, we love how durable they are, and how happily they eat readily available shellfish. With the new sea star species, we hope to have animals that are easily cared for and unlikely to eat other members of the exhibit. If these sea stars do well, the folks at MaST have offered to help us replace our current Pisaster population with these less hungry brethren. We will then plan a second round of new animals to include chitons, limpets and other animals that easily get eaten. Already our exhibit is more diverse by the addition of:

2 - Red sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus)
1 - Purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus)
1 - California sea cucumber (Parastichopus californicus)
1 - Kelp crab (Pugettia productus)
2 - Vermillion sea star (Mediaster aequalis)
2 - Blood stars (Henricia leviuscula)
1 - Mottled star (Evasterias troscheli)
1 - Sun star (Solaster dawsoni)
25 - Plumose anemone (tiny)(Metridium sp)
2 - Swimming anemone (Stomphia coccinea)

We can’t say “thank you” enough to the scientists at MaST. However, if you find yourself down in Des Moines, at Redondo Beach on a Saturday morning, stop by and thank them for us! The program hosts a weekly open aquarium, where the public meets their animals and their wonderful staff and volunteers. This is a great way to extend your knowledge of marine life.


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Love Your Beach

In wake of the current disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, we feel extremely lucky for the opportunity to explore our own local beaches, and to appreciate the delicate and unlikely balance of the animals that live along all shorelines. While we continue to hope for the best in the southern coast, we invite you to learn more about the tidal ecosystems that exist on Washington beaches. It’s been said that you can’t protect what you don’t love. We hope you’ll love it too.




On April 29, a group of Pacific Science Center’s life sciences staff and volunteers, along with two of our Science on Wheels teachers took a day trip to Indianola beach to collect marine life for our tide pool exhibit. As always, we brought our scientific collections permit from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, a list of animals we needed and we came prepared for rain or shine.

It was a beautiful day, and we collected a fine selection of animals.

2 - Aggregate anemone
4 - Christmas Anemone
17 - Hermit Crabs
3 - White anemone
3 - Plumose anemone
1 - Sea Algae (large bag)
5 - Sea stars – ochre
4 - Barnacle groups
3 - Mussel groups
3 - Burrowing sea cucumbers
1 - Key hole limpet
3 - Gunnel fish (juvenile)
5 - Snails
4 - Shrimp (small)
9 - Chiton, mossy or lined
2 - Isopods
1 - Cockle
4 - Moon snail collars



As we worked and enjoyed the day, the environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico was never far from our minds. Pacific Science Center’s tide pool model was developed to help foster appreciation and stewardship of Puget Sound. Never have those goals seemed more important; nor has the beach seemed more valuable or more fragile.


It can be overwhelming to think of large scale issues that threaten beach health. But there are many things we can do in our daily lives to preserve beach habitats. From visiting the beach respectfully and responsibly, to reducing the use of toxic pesticides, to cleaning our car at a carwash instead of on the street, to using the car less – many simple decisions impact the health of beaches. In caring for the beach, some will become involved in influencing bigger policy questions that help shape the future for our marine animals. We invite you to meet our animals, visit a beach, and link to other organizations dedicated to preserving the health of our irreplaceable Puget Sound.


Once again, we are grateful to PSC volunteer John Aurelius and the Indianola Beach community for allowing us to collect permitted animals from their shores.

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