Tide Pooling on the Mediterranean Sea

Dad worked really late last night, but today he didn't have to go to work until noon.  So we decided to do something as a family in the morning before he left.  Instead of going to the beach and building sandcastles we walked north from our apartment and went exploring.

 
The shoreline is different there.  Instead of nice warm sand there were rock outcroppings.  Perfect we thought for tide pooling.  We wore our shoes that could get wet...our Keens.  We quickly found out the rocks were slippery when Alec fell.  There was slippery moss on the rocks.

It took us a little while to find something interesting.

The first thing we found was a small rock pool with three snails.  We picked them up and they climbed all over our hands.  They stuck on our hands pretty well with their foot.  Did you know they have a foot?

The next thing was found by my Mom.  It was a crab.  In fact it was a Mediterranean Shore Crab. Did you know they can walk forwards, backwards, and sideways?  This along with their flat shape allows them to hide quickly in the rocks.

Next Dad found a pool full of shrimp.  These shrimp were somewhat yellow, but mostly clear.  We think it is related to a shrimp I have at home in my fish tank in my room.  It is called a ghost shrimp.  When I stuck my hands in the pool they did what shrimp always do...they started cleaning my fingers by nibbling at the dead skin.  Shrimp pedicure anyone?  It felt really neat.

I am looking forward to visiting the tide pools again before we leave the Mediterranean Sea.  By the way do you know the difference between an ocean and a sea? A sea is smaller and surrounded mostly by land.

Take a look at a map and you will see...Ha! Ha!  Get it...see a sea.