Corals with Caroline...

Saturday, May 30th, was destined to be a wash out but a few brave souls joined Master Naturalist Caroline Heape to search for coral specimens. Before our walk Caroline showed us the two stony coral specimens commonly seen on the SC coast. These are the Northern star coral (Astrangia poculata) and the Ivory bush coral (Oculina arbuscula).

We headed down the coast searching along the wrack line and waters edge. We found only two Northern Star stony corals but were delighted to come across multiple sea pansies, anemones, plumed worm tubes (from Diopatra cuprea), sea star (Echinaster spinulous), channeled welks (Busycotypus canaliculatus) and fiddler crabs.

Caroline spotted what appeared to be a bright yellow sea whip. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a piece of a latex balloon. Just imagine how a turtle could mistake this for a tasty meal!

Combing the beaches with Caroline was a wonderful and educational experience. Thank you Caroline for sharing your expertise!

Photos by Kim Pugh.