1. Keep your eye on the tide level to avoid getting stranded.
2. The ocean is not a swimming pool! Never turn your back to the ocean; Large sneaker waves can be a danger and are unpredictable.
3. Drift wood and wobbly rocks can be dangerous and slippery! If it is green it is slippery! If it is brown, it is slippery! If it is gray or black, it is slippery!

1. Be gentle giants! It’s okay to touch, but only use one or two fingers.
2. If you pry, it will die! It’s okay to pick things up, but if you have to pull to get it off a rock, it will die. So if it’s stuck, leave it there and use your eyes and fingers to learn.
3. Please, turn over rocks, there’s lots of cool stuff underneath, but remember to turn them back over. Things that live on the top can’t survive on the bottom and vice versa.
4. If you take something out of a tidepool, make sure you return it to exactly where you found it: how would you feel if someone plucked you off the couch in your living room and put you in some strangers home a mile away? Or worse, didn’t return you at all.

The coastline is a very narrow margin between the land and the sea, but it is an incredibly rich habitat full of life. For millions of years the rocky shores of the Pacific Northwest have been weathered by pounding waves and persistent tides. This action creates hollows and channels that hold seawater, providing a unique habitat for a variety of plants and animals. Be sure to take a look at the Marine Team ’08 Field Guides linked at the bottom of the page to enhance your tidepool exploration!

Tides are rhythmic and predictable changes in the height of the ocean relative to the land. Within a 24-hour period, Oregon’s coastline experiences two high tides and two low tides known as a diurnal tide. Depending on where the sun and moon are during the month, the height of the tides changes causing extreme tides, known as spring tides, every two weeks that alternate with more moderate neap tides. The periodic flooding and retreating of water creates tidal zones defined by the amount of water available to different parts of the intertidal habitat.

There are 5 specific tidal zones found on a rocky shore:

• Spray zone with little water
• High tide zone with water coverage 25% of the time
• Mid tide zone with water coverage 50% of the time
• Low tide zone with water coverage 75% of the time
• Sub tide zone with water coverage 100% of the time

Individual organisms have specific adaptations for living in the extreme conditions found in the intertidal. Intertidal inhabitants must find a way to survive dessication while exposed at low tide and adapt to wave stress at high tide. Tidepool habitats can be very hot and dry in the summer and get below freezing in the winter. Living in cracks, under rocks and in tight groups can protect animals from drying out while some animals like sea stars, snails, anemones and chitons hold on tight. Kelp have holdfasts to grip onto rocks in rough waves and can dry out completely and rehydrate when the tide rises.

Rocky Shore Animals | Rocky Shore Plants & Algae | Birds & Mammals

The Marine Team ’08 has compiled their information and stories about various species living within the diverse intertidal habitats. Take a look at these field guides and others on the resources page before your next trip to Oregon’s rocky shores!