Seastars in Long Beach, Bay Harbour CA

[FiShTaCo]

I wanted to share these totally awesome pictures that my b/f and I recently got a chance to shoot. Excuse the bad quality from the cell phone. I went out for a boat ride on Tuesday afternoon, in Long Beach's Bay Harbour, when the tide was extremely lower than normal. We came across dozens of ginormous seastars. Hope you enjoy.......

 

[Flavum]

oh man thats sweet!!! thats so awesome, they are big boys. I wonder what species? thanks for sharing!

 

[FiShTaCo]

I did a little research and found that these are the sea star species Pisaster ochraceous.

They can be found anywhere from Alaska to Baja California. It is most commonly found in the Northeastern Pacific, being that it is a cold-water species. However, it is common in bays all year.

 

[sunfishh]

Nice pics especially for a cell phone. Many years ago I volunteered at the Orange Coast College aquarium and we fed those stars live mussels Based on your photo I am guessing we did the right thing.

 

[coolwaves]

Pisaster makes some pretty impressive aquarium specimens, from my own experience. They may be slow, but they are determined, unstopable killing machines.

 

[FiShTaCo]

Nice coolwaves! Do you collect them locally or have divers get them? I was imagining a big tank with long flowing algae/seaweed with these big Pisaters and a couple Girabaldi.....oh how I wish.

 

[coolwaves]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13781916#post13781916 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FiShTaCo
Nice coolwaves! Do you collect them locally or have divers get them? I was imagining a big tank with long flowing algae/seaweed with these big Pisaters and a couple Girabaldi.....oh how I wish.

I harvest for foreshores.net (I am a certified diver, though I only collect in tidepools). There is some really awesome stuff up here, especially anemones.
I have a garibaldi, a true "pet" fish-- lots of personality (and supposedly among the most intelligent of fish). Definitely one of the coolest aquarium fish out there.
Temperate animals are extremely easy to keep in aquaria. Temperate plants or seaweeds are rather challenging though-- they seem rather particular about water chemistry, lighting (intensity AND spectrum), temperature and oxygen availability. From the look of things, though, Norfisk should be able to help us out a bit in that area.

 

[FiShTaCo]

Very cool. I would love to see pics of your tank where u house the Garibaldi!

 

[coolwaves]

here you go... finally...

 

[FiShTaCo]

Oh, that is just awesome!!! Those nems are great stuff, especially the greens.


Thanks for remembering me. I feel special. =)

 

[steveweast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13784513#post13784513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coolwaves
I harvest for foreshores.net (I am a certified diver, though I only collect in tidepools).

I'm interested in exactly what you do for foreshores. I'm currently setting up a 600 gal cold tank and will start collecting for it again this Spring or Summer. Although I only dive and only minimally collect in tidepools, it would be nice to have a place to off load some things instead of returning them to Puget Sound. You may want to think about tagging along on some of our collecting trips since you have a tank.

 

[coolwaves]

Sure, Steve. PM me the next time you go on a trip. I'm certified, though I haven't been on a dive in a long time and no longer have any gear. Might be fun to tag along, though.