Intertidal Monitoring - 2001
BEACH CLASSIFICATION
Salinity, type of substrate, and the amount of wind and wave energy a beach receives determine the type of organisms that inhabit them. We used A Marine and Estuarine Habitat Classification System for Washington State developed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to classify our beaches.
Of the beaches we monitor:
- Five beaches are marine sites (salinity seldom below 30 parts per thousand [ppt]).
- Twenty-one are estuarine (salinity below 30 ppt).
Of the estuarine beaches:
- Eleven beaches have a mixed-coarse substrate (composed of cobbles, gravel, shell and sand with no one substratum type exceeding 70%).
- Six beaches are predominantly gravel.
- Five beaches are predominantly sand.
- All beaches are considered "open" (shoreline exposed to moderate to long fetch and receiving some wind waves and / or currents).
Of the marine beaches:
- Two beaches are predominantly cobble.
- Two beaches are predominantly sand.
- One site is on bedrock (Rosario).
- All are considered "partially exposed" (ocean swell attenuated by offshore reefs, islands, or headlands, but shoreline substantially exposed to wind waves).
Number of beaches monitored per month:
- April - 1
- May - 10
- June - 6
- July - 7
- August -3
One beach (Lagoon Point) was monitored twice.
Miscellaneous information
- Nineteen beaches have seagrass or surfgrass habitats
- Five beaches have bull kelp forests growing offshore
- Twelve sites have bulkheads behind or very near the profile line.
- Beach profiles ranged from 3,280 feet (Sunlight) to 140 feet (Ledgewood).
- Six beach profiles were over 500 feet in length.
2001 QUADRAT SUMMARY
Quadrat data from three (3) marine and seventeen (17) estuarine beaches has been digitized.
Of the marine beaches:
- The total number of invertebrates/fishes ranges from two (2) to fifteen (15) species per beach.
- The total number of seaweeds/seagrasses ranges from five (5) to twenty-seven (27) species per beach.
- The most prevalent organisms include barnacles, limpets and at least thirteen (13) identified red seaweeds.
- Partridge Point, with the highest species diversity, reported Microcladia borealis and Laurencia spectabilis, both red seaweeds, as well as Haliclona sp. and Halichondria sp., both sponges, not documented anywhere else among the monitored beaches.
Of the estuarine beaches:
- The total number of invertebrates/fishes ranges from one (1) to thirteen (13) species per beach.
- The total number of seaweeds/seagrasses ranges from two (2) to eleven (11) species per beach.
- The most prevalent organisms include barnacles, mussels, and snails in addition to at least six (6) species of red seaweed and four (4) species of green seaweed.
- Both Double Bluff locations, as well as South Lagoon Point and South Whidbey State Park, had the greatest diversity. Urticina sp. and Metriduim sp., both sea anemones, were found at Double Bluff while Scytosiphon lomentaria, a brown seaweed was documented at South Lagoon Point and nowhere else among the monitored beaches.
SUMMARY BREAKDOWN OF PROFILE DATA BY CATEGORY
* Number of beaches reporting at least one along the profile line.
| Common Name | * | Common Name | * |
| Ampihipods | 19 | Nudibranchs | 6 |
| Anemones | 20 | Sand Dollars | 5 |
| Barnacles | 24 | Sea Cucumbers | 1 |
| Chitons | 11 | Seastars | 15 |
| Clams | 18 | Snails | 20 |
| Crabs | 22 | Urchins | 8 |
| Fish | 9 | Worms (or worm-like) | 21 |
| Insects | 12 | Green Algae | 25 |
| Isopods | 20 | Red Algae | 21 |
| Limpets | 21 | Brown Algae | 20 |
| Mussels | 21 | Seagrass/Surfgrass | 18 |
SUMMARY BREAKDOWN OF QUADRAT DATA BY GENUS
** Number of estuarine beaches reporting at least one within a quadrat.
*** Number of marine beaches reporting at least one within a quadrat.
| Common Name | Genus sp. | ** | *** | Common Name | Genus sp. | ** | *** | |
| Amphipod | Unidentified | 3 | 1 | . | . | . | . | |
| Anemone | Anthopleura sp. | 5 | 1 | Brown algae | Alaria sp. | . | 2 | |
| Anenome | Metridium sp. | 2 | . | Brown algae | Egregia sp. | . | 1 | |
| Anenome | Urticina sp. | 1 | . | Brown Algae | Laminaria sp. | 1 | 1 | |
| Barnacles | Balanus spp. | 13 | 2 | Brown algae | Pterygophora sp. | . | 1 | |
| Barnacles | Semibalanus sp. | 2 | 1 | Brown algae | Scytosiphon sp. | 1 | . | |
| Bivalve | Mytilus spp. | 8 | . | Brown algae | Unidentified | 1 | . | |
| Bivalve | Saxidomus sp. | 1 | . | Diatom | Unidentified ooze | 1 | . | |
| Bivalve | Tresus sp. | 1 | . | Green algae | Acrosiphonia sp. | 4 | 1 | |
| Bryozoan | Membranipora sp. | . | 1 | Green algae | Enteromorpha sp. | 10 | 2 | |
| Chiton | Katharina sp. | . | 1 | Green algae | Fucus spp. | 2 | 1 | |
| Chiton | Mopalia spp. | 1 | . | Green algae | Kommannia sp. | . | 1 | |
| Crab | Hemigrapsus spp. | 4 | . | Green algae | Ulva spp. | 15 | 2 | |
| Crab | Pagurus sp. | 5 | 1 | Green algae | Urospora sp. | 2 | 1 | |
| Crab | Pugettia sp. | . | 1 | Green algae | Unidentified | . | 1 | |
| Isopod | Idotea sp. | . | 1 | Red algae | Bossiella sp. | . | 1 | |
| Isopod | Unidentified | 1 | 2 | Red algae | Endocladia sp.. | . | 1 | |
| Limpet | Lottia spp. | 4 | 3 | Red algae | Gigartina spp. | 5 | 3 | |
| Limpet | Tectura spp. | 3 | 1 | Red algae | Hildenbrandia sp. | 4 | 2 | |
| Polychaete | Cirratulus sp. | 1 | . | Red algae | Irideae sp. | 1 | 1 | |
| Polychaete | Mesochaetopterus sp. | . | 1 | Red algae | Laurencia sp. | . | 1 | |
| Polychaete | Unidentified | 4 | 1 | Red algae | Lithothanmnium sp. | . | 1 | |
| Sea star | Evasterias sp. | 2 | . | Red algae | Microcladia sp. | . | 1 | |
| Sea star | Letasterias sp. | . | 1 | Red algae | Neorhodomela sp. | . | 1 | |
| Shrimp | Unidentified | 1 | . | Red algae | Odonthalia sp. | 2 | . | |
| Snail | Callistoma sp. | 1 | . | Red algae | Porphyra sp. | 7 | 2 | |
| Snail | Lacuna sp. | 1 | . | Red algae | Rhodomela sp. | . | 1 | |
| Snail | Littorina sp. | 1 | . | Red algae | Sarcodiotheca sp. | 1 | . | |
| Snail | Nucella spp. | 8 | . | Red algae | Unidentified | 7 | 1 | |
| Sponge | Halichondria sp. | . | 1 | Seagrass | Phyllospadix sp. | . | 1 | |
| Sponge | Haliclona sp. | . | 1 | Seagrass | Zostera sp. | . | 1 | |
| Urchin | Strongylocentrotus sp. | 3 | . | . | . | . | . |
Note: Detailed monitoring data can be viewed on the 2nd floor of the Admiralty Head Lighthouse.