Saving the Animals

Today, we decided to go to Venice beach again. So we packed up all of our shell collecting equipment (which meant that we brought shell bags, buckets, and sifters) and headed out to the beach. When we got there, there was a tide pool that might have been a mile long! A couple of my sisters and I went out to the ocean with a bucket to catch tiny fish that where swimming under the big clumps of seaweed. We were to release them after we kept them for a while. We found puffer fish, damsel like fish, and a whole lot of other fish. Then we went to the tide pool where we found a really neat octopus. We also found tons of conchs and hermit crabs. While my sisters checked the rest of the tide pool, I went to rescue the conchs and hermit crabs that where trapped in the tide pool.  I saw a lady walking by with a grocery bag bulging full of live snails, hermit crabs, and clams. My mom said that I should tell her that they were alive and ask if she planned to release them. So I walked up to her and asked her. I could not understand her that well, but I could make out something like that she was taking them to her children. I went back to my mom. I was very sad that the animals would be unnecessarily killed. So I rounded up my sisters that had the bucket and told them the story. Then I asked them to help me rescue the animals "On the double!" So everyone in my family went to help the animals except my youngest sister. She was busy with her new friends. Then one of my sisters went around asking other kids to help the stranded animals. Some of the animals we rescued were conchs, hermit crabs, sea squirts, clams, crabs, small fish, and even a sea horse. As we worked, we could tell that the tide pool was shrinking and was getting hotter. Most of the animals we were finding where not alive anymore. The water was too hot for the animals. We probably saved more than half of the animals, and as we worked, more people came to help. But sadly, I left my camera at home again.

Venice

A few days ago, I went to Venice beach with my family. As we set up our area, we saw something that had washed up on shore. It turned out to be a really neat marine animal called a nudibranch. We put it back in the water to safety. Then I went out for a walk with my sisters on the beach where we found lots more nudibranchs, stranded on the shore. We found black ones, brown ones, and little ones. The nudibranchs that we found where not the venomous kind. So we could pick them up safely. A neat fact about nudibranchs is that they produce a purple ink when they are threatened. We also saw a blue crab run across the beach into the water. We went swimming for a while, and we found a lot of fish. I did not have my camera with me so I could not take photos of the animals I saw that day. Next time, I will bring my camera.