 - I'm Coyote Peterson.
 This is Aron Sanchez,
  and today we're heading out
 into the tide pools
 of Northern California
 to see what sort of
 creatures we can find.
 (tribal music)
The California coastline
is an epic sight
  for any set of eyes,
and I've always been fascinated
  by the rising and
  falling of the tide.
 And in the Half Moon Bay area,
if you know exactly
where to be at low tide,
you stand the chance of finding
some very interesting creatures.
   I'm pretty good at coming
   across animals on my own,
   but today I'll be
   following the lead
  of a true tide pool expert.
   Aron Sanchez is a
   man of adventure,
and since childhood, he has had
 a fascination with the ocean,
 and a love for its animals.
   Over the past decade, he
   has spent countless hours
  exploring intertidal pools,
  where he has encountered
   and photographed
   some sea creatures
   that seem as if they
   belong on another planet.
 How does this work, do we
 just go out there in the water
and try to scoop things
up into the bucket?
  - Well sometimes
  you will get lucky.
We'll walk around here,
chances are we will
 see some organisms
 just kinda hangin out,
  because it is low tide, but
  what we really wanna do,
 is go to areas where animals
 have hidden underneath rocks.
   When the low tide is out,
   these animals are trapped.
 They wait here, when
 the tide comes back in
   they swim off and continue
   on with their lives.
 - Awesome well let's head out
 there into the tide pools,
   and see what we can find.
   - (Aron) Let's do it.
   - (Coyote) After less than
   five minutes of searching,
 Aron came upon the
 first find of the day.
- Hey Coyote.
- (Coyote) Yeah?
 - (Aron) Come check this out!
 - What ya got?
 - Take a look.
 - Oh wow, I know what that is!
   That is a starfish, right?
   - (Aron) Starfish
   is pretty common,
but the correct
terminology is sea star.
- (Coyote) Really that's
crazy, I bet most people
don't know that.
   Every book I've ever
   seen calls them starfish.
  - (Aron) That's
  pretty common, yeah.
  - Alright now can we
  just pick this up?
 - We can, he's just kind of
 walkin along the surface here,
 so he's fine.
   - He's movin extra
   slow, isn't he?
 - (Aron) Yeah.
This is a Leather Star,
 and the reason it's
 called a Leather Star,
   is because it feels
   actually like wet leather.
  - Wow, really does.
  Feels like a boot.
 - It's pretty unique.
 - Doesn't smell like anything,
   maybe a little bit
   like the ocean.
 I flip over on this side, look
 at that, yeah I can feel, wow
 all those little feet
 are really sticky!
   - (Aron) These are
   actually called tube feet,
 and this is how the
 sea star gets around.
 - Alright, well, it's
 a pretty good start.
 Let's put him back in
 the water and see if
  we can find somethin
  a little crazier.
 - (Aron) Sounds good.
  - (Coyote) The Leather Sea
  star was pretty incredible,
  but what we were really
  after is what Aron considers
  the holy grail of
  tide pool creatures,
the elusive red octopus.
I love a good challenge,
so our search began.
 Ok so Aron's walked up a ways
 there looking for creatures,
and I just gotta show you guys,
 what it is that we're
 walking through.
Look at this, this is all kelp,
and it smells, ugh, awful!
But it feels really cool
when you walk on it,
almost feels like moon walking.
 How squishy and bouncy it
 is, it all feels like rubber,
   and it absolutely stinks.
 Alright, well I'm
 gonna catch up to him
   and see if we can find
   some more cool creatures.
 The tide pools were alive
 with all kinds of interesting,
   and alien looking animals.
  We found sea anemones, which
  might look like a plant,
but are in fact an animal,
related to coral and jellyfish.
  That feels so cool!
All those little
tentacles are so sticky.
 A nereid worm, which
 is the ocean's version
   of living nightmare, and
   this one was just a baby,
   but they can grow to be
   nearly two feet in length.
 Um, no thanks.
 Then there were the
 crabs, tons of crabs.
   Including the purple shore
   crab, stripped shore crab,
 and one big Pacific rock crab.
Trust me, you don't
wanna find your fingers
   in those pincers.
 Several hours of
 searching had passed,
  with no sign of an octopus,
   but all was not lost, when
   suddenly we came across
 another gem of the tide pools.
   Aron I think the
   toughest part about this,
  is all the terrain,
  it's so slippery.
- You gotta watch your footing.
  - Yeah, alright, you
  wanna flip this one?
   - (Aron) See what we got.
   - (Coyote) More
   crabs I'm guessin.
Oh, look at that, that's an eel!
   - (Aron) A lot of
   people think so,
   but these are in fact a
   fish called a prickleback.
They won't bite, they're
actually vegetarians.
  They mostly feed on seaweed.
   - (Coyote) Alright, let's
   get them into the bucket,
   so we can try to
   get a closer look.
 Now you say I can just
 pick these up right?
  - That's right, Coyote one
  thing people might not know,
is that pricklebacks can
actually breathe air.
 - Really, so they can
 be out of the water?
  - They can.
 - Alright so if I take one
 out of here and just hold it,
  it's gonna be fine?
   - (Aron) He might be a
   little slippery, but yeah.
   - Alright let's
   give that a shot,
  get one of these outta here.
Alright, I'm goin for
the big one, here we go.
   Come here big guy.
Let's move slow.
Wow, that is one bizarre
looking little creature.
  It looks like a mix between
  an eel and a mudskipper.
   I can see why people would
   think that these are eels.
I mean I saw it squirmmin around
  and I was like, it's an eel!
But that's so cool,
this is actually a fish.
 I can see his lil
 prickleback stickin up there.
  I'm gonna touch that, and
  see if it's actually spikey.
   Oh yeah! I can feel that.
And so that's pretty commonplace
to just flip over a rock,
  and the low tide like this
  and find (inaudible) there.
 - At low tide it is, these
 guys are waiting for the tide
to come back in so they're just
gonna be under these rocks.
- Ok now this one to me
looks pretty good size
   but this is not
   an adult you said.
- No these guys can actually get
 to about two and a half feet.
   - Wow, that would be cool,
   and what are the odds
  of finding one
  that's two feet here
  underneath the rocks
  in the tide pool?
- Usually not so likely,
  the bigger guys are
  gonna be out at sea.
  - (Coyote) After admiring
  these bizarre looking fish,
   it was time to release
   them back into the ocean.
   Alright here we go, gettin
   the pricklebacks back
into the ocean, oh,
with the tide comin in.
  Alright guys, see ya later!
   Ah, there they go!
  Whew, wow that was awesome.
Aron, thank you so much
for having us out here
to explore the intertidal pools.
   We saw so many creatures,
   sea anemones, sea stars,
  lots of crabs, and of
  course the prickleback fish.
  The one thing we didn't come
  across was the red octopus.
Which means we're gonna
need to head back out
 to California soon to
 visit our friend Aron,
   to see if we can find one.
  I'm Coyote Peterson,
  be brave, stay wild!
  We'll see ya on
  the next adventure.
  To check out some of
  Aron's amazing work,
  make sure to follow his
  Instagram account @WATERBOD
  or visit his website
  WATERBODYMEDIA.COM.
   And if you thought the
   creatures of the tide pool
   were bizarre, make sure
   to check out my encounter
   with the whip scorpion,
   and don't forget subscribe
 to join me and the crew on
 this season of Breaking Trail.
 (tiger growl)
 (bird call)
