Life in The Tide Pool
Tide pools provide a home for hardy organisms such as sea stars, mussels and clams. Inhabitants must be able to cope with a constantly changing environment — fluctuations in water temperature, salinity, and oxygen content. Huge waves, strong currents, exposure to midday sun and predators are only a few of the hazards that tide pools' animals must endure to survive.
Waves can dislodge mussels and draw them out to sea. Gulls pick up and drop sea urchins to break them open. Starfish prey on mussels and are eaten by gulls themselves. Even black bears sometimes feast on intertidal creatures at low tide. Although tide pool organisms must avoid getting washed away into the ocean, drying up in the sun, or getting eaten, they depend on the tide pool's constant changes for food.
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Famous quotes containing the words life, tide and/or pool:
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—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits;—”
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“Just getting in the pool for seven straight hours is unbearable to me.... It’s grueling. There’s nothing physically pleasurable about it. If you’re doing a hard workout, you’re throwing up in the gutter. At night you cling to your pillow and just hope that your body revives before you have to go back and do it again.”
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