This San Mateo coast reserve–home to brilliantly colored nudibranchs, 20-armed sun stars, and pupping harbor seals–has been transformed from a place of collection and plunder to one of exploration and wonder.
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This San Mateo coast reserve–home to brilliantly colored nudibranchs, 20-armed sun stars, and pupping harbor seals–has been transformed from a place of collection and plunder to one of exploration and wonder.
From November to February this past winter, biologists scoured lower Russian River tributaries in search of spawning coho salmon. The fish they were hoping to find were no ordinary salmon, but the hatchery-spawned offspring of wild salmon. The survivors from … Read more
Usually around late April, following spring storms, Northern California beaches are littered with something that looks like gobs of purple-tinted slimy cellophane.
There’s a lot more to the western sand dollar (Dendraster excentricus) than meets the eye. Most people who spend any time at the beach are familiar with the sand dollar’s skeleton, or test—the rigid, white flattened disk that commonly washes … Read more
Wave-Swept Shore: The Rigors of Life on a Rocky Coast, text by Mimi Koehl, Photographs by Anne Wertheim Rosenfeld, UC Press, 2006, 179 pages, $39.95 www.ucpress.edu This book is not quite what one might expect. The title and the stunning … Read more
San Francisco’s Fort Funston is perhaps best known for dogs and hang gliders, but its cliffs also host a thriving coastal bank swallow colony.
In response to a landmark state ocean bill signed into law last year, top state agencies are taking aggressive steps to protect California’s coastline and marine habitats from overfishing and pollution. The new law, the California Ocean Protection Act (COPA), … Read more
The second annual San Francisco Ocean Film Festival, a three-day celebration of oceans and estuaries, kicks off on Friday, January 28, with a reception at the San Francisco Maritime Museum near Ghirardelli Square. On Saturday and Sunday, the event continues … Read more
As thousands of monarchs return to the protection of the California State Park system, a coalition of marine conservation organizations wants to remind Americans that less than one percent of the world’s ocean waters benefit from such government-administered refuges. The … Read more
Since our story went to press, there’s been some good news for the Southern Sea Otter: census numbers for the California population soared by 17 percent since last year. More than 2,500 otters were counted off our coast this spring, … Read more