Des Moines Marina Beach Park (May 16th)
Date and Time: May 16, 4:00pm
Location: Des Moines Marina Beach Park, Des Moines, WA
Weather: Mostly cloudy about 60 degrees
Water temperature: about 40 degrees
Tide conditions: Relatively high
Today, as I was walking along the docks at the Marina, I spotted about five Purple Sea Stars. They ranged from colors of orange, red, and purple, never pink and had five arms. They are about medium in size and are round on rocky shores where barnacles are abundant, their arms are relatively short in length, about four to ten inches. What's really interesting about the Purple Sea Star is that they are not always purple and they are such strong creatures. The Purple Sea Star has netlike pattern coming out from the center of the Sea Star and have many suckers at the bottom of their arms that allows them to attach to the rocky surfaces and live in water where the waves are plenty. While I'm certain this is a Purple Sea Star, there are three other species that are often mistaken for the Purple Sea Star and these include: the Giant Sea Star that has blue rings around the purple or white spines, the Pink Sea Star that is pink with small white spines, and the mottled star that has a small disc and five long narrow arms that are often turned up at the tip of them. Purple Sea Stars feed on barnacles and mussels. Purple Sea Stars can be found in abundant numbers that large boulders are turned white, leaving evidence that these Sea Stars have consumed large amounts of barnacles leaving the barnacle's cemented shells on these boulders. One thing i will never forget about Sea Stars is their ability to re-grow arms if one loses an arm due to injury. This really amazes me!
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