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Ship Harbor tidal riffle

Home > Photo Galleries > Ship Harbor tidal riffle

At Ship Harbor, a small, blind harbor on the coast near Wonderland, the tide floods and ebbs through a narrow neck of water. At low tide, this becomes a shallow stream of salt water, a tidal riffle, like the riffle zone of a shallow, rock strewn freshwater stream. The riffle never completely dries up and water is always either flowing in or flowing out, never sitting for any period time. This produces an easily accessible sub-tidal community, complete with many organisms that cannot survive the rigors of the tide pool (low oxygen content, increased temperature and salinity during periods when the tide is out). The result is the opportunity of a lifetime to examine North Atlantic sub-tidal flora and fauna without having to snorkel or SCUBA.

Click on a photo below to enlarge.

Ship Harbor tidal riffle 2000

Ship Harbor tidal riffle 2002

tidal riffle
tide flooding
algae
Eileen and Kerri
star on rock
Jen, Eileen, and Kerri
seastar, sea urchin, and snail egg cases
students write in journals
algae
sea cucumber
snail egg cases
brittle star
Northern sea star
sea urchin

Ship Harbor tidal riffle 2004

Ship Harbor tidal riffle 2006

 

 

 

  

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