British Columbia
Beachcombing Sites
Stanley Park
1 Site Description: Protected, sand/mud, rock
Nearest town: Vancouver
Skookumchuck Narrows Provincial Park
2 Site Description: Semi-exposed, rock
Nearest town: Egmont, Sunshine Coast
Saltery Bay Provincial Park
3 Site Description: Protected, sand, mud, rock
Nearest town: Powell River
British Columbia's coast contains some of the world's richest and most
diverse habitats for intertidal marine life. The intertidal zone - the area that is
submerged during high tides and exposed at low tides - is a wonderful place to
observe a variety of marine plants and animals. British Columbia's coastline
contains many types of intertidal habitats. From its sandy beaches and mud flats
to its rocky shores, each habitat provides the opportunity to view an assortment
of marine creatures.
3
4
Miracle Beach Provincial Park
4 Site Description: Protected, sand
Nearest town: Courtenay, VI
2
5
Tribune Bay Provincial Park, Hornsby Island
5 Site Description: Protected, sand
Nearest town: Denman Village, Denman Island
1
6
14
Habitats can be significantly different along various sections of the west coast
depending on whether the location is exposed to or protected from the pounding
waves of the Pacific Ocean.
16
7
13
Montague Harbour Provincial Park, Galiano Island
6 Site Description: Protected, sand, rock
Nearest town: Sturdies Bay, GI
8
12
11
Sandy areas can be found in both exposed and protected sites. Exposed sandy areas
such as sandspits or sandy beaches are good locations to find the Pacific razor-clam or
purple olive, while protected beaches or sand flats are the ideal place to find Dungeness
crab or Nuttall's cockle.
10
Winter Cove Provincial Marine Park, Saturna Island
7 Site Description: Protected, sand/mud, rock, tidepools
Nearest town: Lyall Harbour, SI
9
15
Beaver Point, Ruckle Provincial Park, Saltspring Island
8 Site Description: Protected, rock
Nearest town: Fulford, SI
N
East Sooke Regional Park
9 Site Description: Exposed, sand, rock
Nearest town: Sooke, VI
Mud flats are usually found in sheltered locations such as bays and estuaries and are home to
creatures such as the yellow shore crab or Pacific gaper. Some animals inhabit both sand
beaches and mud flats such as Lewis's moonsnail, Pacific geoduck and soft-shell clams.
Whiffen Spit Regional Park
10 Site Description: Semi-exposed, sand/mud, rock
Nearest town: Sooke, VI
Rocky shores can also be found in exposed and protected sites. These exposed sites are great
locations to find the California mussel or black Katy chiton while protected sites are home to creatures
such as the painted sea anemone and hairy hermit.
French Beach Provincial Park
11 Site Description: Exposed, rock, tidepools
Nearest town: Sooke, VI
Botanical Beach Provincial Park
12 Site Description: Exposed, rock, tidepools
Nearest town: Port Renfrew, VI
Explore BC's coast but remember marine habitats, as well as the
marine animals within them, should be handled with care. Don't forget to
check local tides as well!
Bamfield
13 Site Description: Exposed, sand, rock
Nearest town: Port Alberni, VI
Phylum Mollusca:
Lewis's
Le
i ' Moonsnail
Moo
ail
h
fis
lly
Sea animals in this group include jellyfish, sea
anemones and corals. They all have specialized
organs for digesting and stinging, and some live
free-swimming while others are attached.
Members of this group found in BC include the
giant plumose, painted, proliferating, redbeaded, moonglow, and striped anemones
Pacific Rim National Park
14 Site Description: Exposed, sand, rock
Nearest town: Tofino, VI
Bat
un Star
S
Burnaby Narrows
15 Site Description: Protected, sand/mud, rock
Nearest town: Sandspit, QCI
Star
s
Yakan Point
16 Site Description: Protected, sand, rock, tidepools
Nearest town: Massett, QCI
Phylum Echinodermata:
Sea Star
r
la
ol
Dungeness Crab
References:
Sept, J. Duane, The Beachcomber' Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest,
Harbour Publishing (Madeira Park, BC) 2001.
Levin, Harold L., The Earth Through Time, Saunders College Publishing (Orlando, FL) 1999.
Image Sources:
D
Se
ea animals in this group include barnacles and
crrabs. They all have 'jointed limbs' and
exxoskeletons which cover their bodies like suits
off armour. Members of this group found in BC
include Dungeness, red rock, flattop, graceful
decorate, helmet, hairy, and yellow shore crabs,
goose, and acorn barnacles
nd
ea animals in this group include sea stars, sea
cucumbers, sea urchins and sand dollars. They
all have spiny skins (calcareous plates) that are
covered with a soft layer of skin. Memberss of
this group found in BC include the bat, Paci
acific
blood, sunflower, morning sun, leather, mottle
tled,
giant pink, and six-rayed stars, California sea
cucumbers, eccentric sand dollars, green, and
red sea urchins
Ph
hylum Arthropoda:
Sa
Produced by Sandi Gibson
Cartography 250, April 2003
Department of Geography
Simon Fraser University
Phylum Cnidaria:
Je
Sea animals in this group include chitons,
limpets, nudibranches, clams, and mussels.
They all have a soft fleshy mantle, a toothed
radula for scraping, and a shell covering.
Members of this group found in BC include the
hairy, Merten, white-lined, woody, black Katy,
and giant Pacific chitons. The rough keyhole,
plate, and mask limpets, red turbans, Lewis's
moonsnail, purple olives, channeled
dogwinkles, red, and yellow-edged nudibranch
(sea slugs), fat gaper, expanded macoma,
Olympia oyster, Pacific oysters, clams, Northern
hair mussel, Nuttall's cockle, and darkmahogany clam
http://www.alaska.net/~scubaguy/gallery.htm (jellyfish)
http://www.123crabdelivery.com/pictures/content/dungeness-crab-whole.jpg (Dungeness crab)
www.at-bristol.org.uk/ News_data/default.htm (sea star); www.biosbcc.net/ ocean/fltre.htm (bat stars)
www.oceanlight2.bc.ca/ about.htm (beachcombers); www.hmsc.orst.edu/projects/ rocky/sfstar.html (sun star)
http://www.njmsc.org/Education/List%20Lessons/List%20Lesson-Seashells%20are%20homes%20for%20mollusks.htm
(moonsnail)
www.nhm.ac.uk/palaeontology/ echinoids/MORPH/MORPH.HTM (sand dollar); members.rogers.com/jgleed/ (beach)
Tide Data: http://www.lau.chs-shc.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/marees/cgi-bin/tide-shc.tcl