Getting Wild with Ed Dominguez, Seattle Naturalist - edomino.ed@gmail.com

My next visit to the beach at low tide revealed a living Lewis's Moon Snail; In my previous post I showed the shell and egg casing; this time I found the living mollusk!  The top photo shows the moonsnail from the side with its mantle (foot) extended and moving from left to right.  Note the huge size of the mantle...it covers nearly half the shell!  The brown lines marking the mantle are exquisite in their detail!  The locomotion lubricant (slime trail) is visible extending behind the snail. The next photo (taken from above) shows the front edge of the foot (right), the  siphon (top right, with thin black border), and the two black lined cephalic tentacles.   These are sense organs that perform multiple functions including smell, "sight" and mate attraction. They are only partially extended here. The third photo show two examples of the operculum (little lid), the amber tinted "door" that is attached to the foot which allows the moonsnail to seal its shell openi

June is the month for Lewis's Mock-Orange (Philadelphus lewisii), one of the most heavenly scents in nature.  This is a native shrub that can extend its bushy growth to 10' tall.  White flowers with four petals and multiple yellow stamens invite you to stick your nose in and immerse yourself in the heady fragrance...just make sure you are not dislodging a swallowtail butterfly or inhaling a bee; they love mock-orange too!  I have even seen hummingbirds going for the nectar. Named for Meriwether Lewis (the Lewis and Clark expedition likened the aroma to orange blossoms), this plant is a great choice for Northwest gardens; they like sun but can handle part sun/part shade and are summer-drought tolerant.  When the summer sun shines on the petals, few other flowers can match the intoxicating bouquet!  A bit of trivia...mock-orange is also the state flower of Idaho.  When out on a walk, keep your eyes (and nostrils) open for this cool plant, and by all means...indulge yourself!

Moon snail!     The Lewis's Moon Snail (Neverita lewisii) is one of our largest intertidal gastropods (stomach-foot).  Up to 5 inches across, these mollusks plow through the sand looking for their favorite prey...clams!  Their fleshy mantle extends out of the shell and surrounds the lower portion; it is so large that it doesn't appear that it could fit back inside!  Unfortunately, I could not find a live specimen with the mantle extended to show you, but above and to the right of its spiral shell you will see two examples of their very strange looking egg casings.  The moon snail secretes a mucus around its shell that has eggs layered inside.  This mucus is immediately covered with sand resulting in a protective three-ply sandwich with the eggs wrapped in the inside layer!  Spring and summer are good times to find these egg casings washed up on the beach; as long as they are not out of the water for too long the eggs will be fine.  The white clamshell to the right of the

We took advantage of a beautiful June 1st and took our paddleboards to Puget Sound.  We viewed several Lion's Mane jellys!  Lion's mane is our largest jelly and can be found from our area north to Alaska. The bell is a peach-orange color with deep burgundy tentacles. Further north the bell color is a deeper red. My wife Jennifer captured this video, hope you enjoy! Ed

Watching birds and bird behavior is fun and easy when you set up a feeding station. This episode is a re-filming of my first show and we have made many improvements in filming and editing technique.  Learning and growing with each new installment...hope you enjoy! Ed