Tidepool Colisium

Here’s yet another little gem from Cordova, Alaska.  Out at the end of the road at Hartney Bay you can walk along the shoreline of the Prince William Sound at low tide.  It’s not sandy beaches, but a craggy, rocky sort of shoreline that gives home to all manner of tidepool creatures.  You never know what your going to find living or trapped in these little ecosystems.  By far the coolest discovery to date is this sea enenemy (properly spelled anemone).  I’ve made three low tide trips to visit him this Spring.

The boy in me wants a battle of the odd creatures in this self contained coliseum so I have set about finding different foes to face the enenemy.  It may be hard to gain a sense of size from the photos, but he’s a formidable opponent at about the size of a full grown man’s hand, spread.  The best challenge has been from a baby Rockfish, about three inches or so that I captured in another tidepool down the beach.  It was ultimately anticlimactic and I suspect the Rockfish just swam away at the next high tide.  As much as I want a bull fight I guess I’ll just have to settle for feeding him snails.  Here’s to being a boy.

Update:  I talked to a fellow in town that said he remembered that sea enenemy from as far back as 12 years ago when he was the size of a tennis ball.  Apparently he’s as good as a citizen of Cordova.

I’ll go ahead and apologize for the lackluster images.  It’s pretty difficult to take photos of something that’s moving, in low light, while you’re feeding it.

And back to striking position…

And the big guy’s home: