Tidal Pool

As a child, my grandparents lived close to the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, so many visits to Grandma's also included a visit to a beach. The best time to go was at low tide, not because there's more beach exposed, but because that's when the tidal pools appear! My siblings and I spent hours exploring and investigating tidal pools, seeking out crabs, limpets, and periwinkles among the sea lettuce and bladderwrack, and being wary of the sharp edges of barnacles. We all got scraped by them more than a few times!

Those early summers spent fascinated by sealife are partly what led me to become a park naturalist as an adult. I still love tidal pools and the creatures you can find in them, and I invite you to embrace your inner child and explore this one. Can you spot a hermit crab, a scallop, a rock crab, a starfish, two seagulls, two limpets, three sea anemones, and four periwinkles crammed into the rock crevices?