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While I was attending Coastal Carolina University, obtaining my degree in Marine Science, there were many memorable experiences I accrued over those four years, but there was one day that brought enjoyment to me that I still try to recreate whenever I can. Let me set the stage for you: It was an early morning during the fall in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. About 15 marine science undergraduates load up into a van and take a short trip to the docks in Murrells Inlet. We jump out of the van, wearing sweaters and pants because it is a little chilly, and grab shallow bins, scrapers and ID books. At first, we all slowly walked down to the floating ramp, a little unsure about how the day is going to go. Our professor tells us to pick a spot, lay down on our bellies, and scrape all that stuff stuck to the dock into the bins, and ID what you find. When I tell you that by the end of our time there, all of our sleeves were soaked, I am not joking. As we scraped, we found so many hidden treasures! Sea stars, tunicates, algae, crabs, sea anemones, flatworms, nudibranchs, and sea pork. We would make our collection, and then run around like fools trying to see what someone found when they would yell “Wow!” or “What is this?”.

It truly was a moment in which all my worries fell apart, and I felt like a kid again. 

Working on boats gives me ample opportunity to recreate this experience. Just recently, I took time before a tour at the downtown Beaufort Marina, to lay flat on my belly, and look through the little world that can be found just below the surface. Everytime I do this, my mind is just blown! I grabbed a bright red sponge, as it was the first thing to catch my eye, and instantly, 20ish little baby crabs scuttled out of hiding places I couldn’t even see were there. They ran across my hands and some ended up just jumping off my hands and disappearing in the water (hopefully not to their demise). It’s moments like these that tickle my fancy! After that, of course I had to keep on exploring through the algae, sea pork, tunicates, oysters, and sea anemones that have found a home in such a niche location. 

I used my 10x macro lens that I attached onto my phone to really see the hustle and bustle of this underwater world. I focused on the hydrozoans that were “blowing in the breeze” of the Beaufort River tide. They looked so alien to me. (Side note: I took a microscopy class at the Caw Caw Interpretive Center, and the theme was “Are movie monsters based on microscopic organisms?”. We deemed the answer to be a hard yes.) They looked kind of like flowers growing out of a bush, but imagine the flower petals as alien tentacles, and the center of the flower like a bright pink suction tube that looks like it’s ready to suck in unsuspecting prey at any moment. Around the suction center was a bouquet of Spaghetti O’s noodles. While staring at these weird creatures, I caught a view of something even weirder. Skeleton shrimp. Let me explain what these little (super little, like teeny tiny) guys look like. Imagine a shrimp that’s skinny, long, transparent and has Captain Hook vibes (These shrimps have hooks for hands. I know these movies are becoming more and more outdated – Peter Pan came out in 1953…). Now, imagine a skeleton for that shrimp. Imagine that the back end of that skeleton is holding onto the stalks of the hydrozoans, and is doing crunches over and over and over again, ripping those hooks-for-hands through the water. That is your Skeleton shrimp (movie monster, am I right?). These little guys hold on with tiny little legs and tears through the water to catch their next lunch. They are basically the underwater version of Praying Mantises (I wonder if Skeleton shrimp females eat their mates, too? #whorunstheworld[girls]). 

Skeleton Shrimp on a hydrozoan stalk

Okay, so I didn’t want to write this blog to talk just about skeletons doing crunches. What I really wanted to talk about were these cute little creatures I saw on the hydrozoans. So cute that if they created a stuffed animal version of it, I would be the first person in line yelling “take my money!”.

Sea slugs. Nudibranchs. Sea hare. Sea bunny. Have you heard of it? These are all terms people use to refer to sea slugs (although a sea bunny is technically a nudibranch, not a sea hare, and a sea hare is not a nudibranch, but nudibranchs, sea hares and sea bunnies are all sea slugs? Very confusing.)

They say that all nudibranchs are sea slugs, but not all sea slugs are nudibranchs- kind of like all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles can be a square? From here on out, I will refer to them as sea slugs since that is the all inclusive term.

Sea slug on a hydrozoan stalk

Right there, hidden in the hydrozoans, was a community of sea slugs riding the stalks of the hydrozoans as if they were a roller coaster cart holding onto the tracks. The term “sea slugs” is very accurate. Think of a slug with a long slimy body, and two tentacles coming out of their head but add a very large handlebar mustache that is well kept but is so long that they hang low and “blow in the wind”. Add short, pointy, translucent dreadlocks that protrude from the sides of the body and look like there are curled up spaghetti noodles on the insides of them. Their body color is tan, but their upper tentacles are speckled with white like snow-capped mountains, and there is a white stripe with a splash of orange in between them. Running down the back of the sea slug are various splotches of white and orange. Like I said, adorable, right? And they are just minding their own business! Eating, sleeping, reproducing (found many hydrozoan stalks covered in sea slug eggs), and repeating. These teeny tiny animals that you can barely see at all, have their own piece of real estate in the city of Beaufort (hard to afford these days), within a safe neighborhood where they can make friends, date, and raise their babies. They have created a life in a world that looks nothing like the worlds we live in, and yet, it’s normal to them. If you have ever read or seen “Horton Hears a Who!” (A Dr. Suess book. Do kids still read these?), I am Horton, and these sea slugs are the Whos. Just like Horton, it really makes me readjust my perspective. We live in such a big world, but there are so many teeny tiny worlds within, and that just amazes me. 

After I’m starting to get dizzy from dangling my head over the side of the dock, I have to sit up, and escape the underworld to find a bit of relief. The mystery remains with me for a few more minutes, but then I get thrown back into the stressful human world that just seems way too complicated. A place a sea slug would scoff at. Those few minutes of child-like wonder was still worth it, though. Those few minutes of forgetting that I even exist, was a few minutes of solace that we all could use. So, if you ever feel like you need a moment that removes you from hardships, maybe just stick your head underwater and search through the fouling that grows on a dock.

Post by Annie Boyd (Education Coordinator)

Does this sound like an experience your child would enjoy? Check out our kids camps we have offered this summer!

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