Puget Sound Creature Cards
Teacher Guide
Green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis)
Habitat: Mid to low tide zone
Movement: Sea urchins use their tube feet to move slowly across rocks, seaweed and
sandy bottoms. They also use their tube feet to hold on to hard surfaces and to grab their
food.
Protection: Their body is covered with toothpick-like spines. They are also well
camouflaged.
Predators: Humans, gulls, sea otters, crabs, sea stars and various fishes including wolfeels.
Diet: They will use their five teeth to scrape algae off of rocks and to nibble away at
seaweed. They will also occasionally scavenge for detritus (dead algae and animals).
Other facts:
Urchins are echinoderms (ee-kie-noe-derms) which means that they belong to the
invertebrate group Echinodermata. This phylum group includes sea stars, sand
dollars, sea cucumbers and sea urchins.
Sea urchins can breathe and even smell with their tube feet!
The green sea urchin can be found in the Pacific Ocean from Arctic regions to the
south Puget Sound, as well as in the Atlantic Ocean as far south as New Jersey.
Sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides)
Habitat: Low tide zone and tide pools on rocky shores, and in bays and estuaries
Movement: These sea stars are probably the fastest sea stars around. Cruising to speeds
of up to 1/8 of a mile per hour on their 15,000 (or so) tube feet!
Protection: Like other sea stars, their arms can drop off when grabbed by a predator. The
missing arm(s) should grow back quickly, as long as there is an adequate food supply.
Predators: Some fisherman who may see them as competition for shellfish.
Diet: Mussels, clams, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sand dollars, snails, other sea stars and
barnacles.
Other facts:
A sunflower star eats by inserting its stomach into or around prey until it is digested.
Sunflower sea stars can have up to 24 arms and grow to the size of a large trash can
lid!
Giant Pacific octopus (Octopus dofleini)
Habitat: Rocky caves and crevices in low or subtidal zones and rocky reefs
Movement: Octopuses use their eight “arms” (also called tentacles) to help them to
“walk” along rocks or sandy bottoms. They can also move quickly through the water
using jet propulsion. To do this they push water through their siphon and move in the
direction of their mantle (their head-like body), with their tentacles trailing behind.
Protection: Octopuses are masters of disguise and can quickly change color to blend into
their surroundings. They can also change the appearance of the texture of their skin. They
can also squirt a cloud of ink to confuse a predator, and fit through tiny openings, as long
as it is no larger than the size of their beak.
Predators: Since octopuses have no hard shell to protect them, many animals will
attempt to eat them, including seals, birds, sea otters, and larger fish. Luckily, they can
regrow tentacles that taken by predators.
Diet: Crabs, shrimp, mussels, clams, snails, other octopuses and even fish if they are
quick enough!
Other facts:
The giant Pacific octopus is the largest species of octopus in the world, growing to a
weight of up to 100 pounds.
Octopuses usually live only 2-5 years!
Female octopuses faithfully guard their many rice-sized eggs. During this time she
usually will not eat and will die soon after the larvae have hatched.
They are considered to be the most intelligent of the invertebrates.
Moon Snail (Polinices lewisii)
Habitat: Sandy floors, near shore
Movement: Like other gastropods (snails, limpets and abalones) they rely on their
muscular foot to travel along rocks or the sandy seafloor.
Predators: Sea otters, sunflower sea stars, other sea stars, some fishes and crabs.
Protection: They can pull their entire body inside their shell and close it with a “trap
door” called an operculum.
Other facts:
Moon snails eat by drilling a hole in the shell of its prey. It then squirts acid through
the hole to speed up digestion so it can slurp up the meaty insides.
The egg case of a moon snail looks like a gray rubber collar.
California sea cucumber (Parastichopus californicus)
Habitat: Subtidal areas and kelp forests
Movement: Suction-cup-like tube feet (just like their cousins the sea stars and sea
urchins!) help them to move and hang on.
Protection: Their spiny appearance may fool some predators, although their “spines” are
just soft skin. Some sea cucumbers can eviscerate (spit out) their respiratory organs to
appease a predator until it can escape. They are usually able to regrow this organ,
assuming food supply is plentiful.
Predators: Sea stars and sea otters
Diet: Most sea cucumbers rely heavily on plankton (tiny drifting animals and plant-like
organisms) for food. However, the California cucumber feeds primarily on detritus (dead
organic material) by sweeping it up off the rocks and sand grains using its feathery
feeding branches.
Other facts:
California sea cucumbers experience a period of dormancy (a little bit like
hibernation) from late fall to early spring!
Sea cucumbers are popular in many Asian dishes.
Kelp crab (Pugettia producta)
Habitat: Mid tide zone, kelp beds and forests, pilings under docks
Movement: Long jointed legs from crawling and climbing
Protection: They are almost always the color of the kelp in which they live and upon
which they feed. They will react aggressively with claws stretched out when threatened.
Predators: Gulls, some fishes, other crabs, octopuses and sea otters
Diet: Kelp (large seaweeds)
Other facts:
Kelp crabs are one of many crabs referred to as “spider crabs.” However, unlike
spiders, crabs have ten legs and belong to the group known as the decapods (a group
within the arthropod group).
Like other arthropods (insects, spiders, shrimp, crabs, barnacles and lobsters) they
shed or molt their exoskeleton to grow.
Moon jelly (Aurelia aurita)
Habitat: Offshore and in bays and estuaries
Movement: Their umbrella-shaped bodies pulsate in the water to keep them near the
surface where the food is plentiful. Jellies aren’t strong swimmers and simply drift
through the water at the mercy of the currents. In fact, they are considered to be members
of the plankton.
Protection: Their translucent bodies help them to blend into their aquatic habitat. The
nematocysts (stinging structures) that they use to capture their prey may deter some
predators.
Predators: Some sea turtles, the ocean sunfish (Mola mola), pygmy sperm whales and
some other jellies.
Diet: Plankton, including other jellies. Some larger jellies can also ingest small fishes.
Other facts:
Jellies don’t pursue their prey. Their nematocysts are fired when bumped into or
triggered by certain chemicals in the water.
The four teardrop shapes on the top of their bell (body) are their stomachs and
reproductive organs.
Jellies are related to sea anemones and corals.
Giant green sea anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica)
Habitat: On rocks in the mid and low tides zones and in tide pools
Movement: Sea anemones hold on with a pedal disc (foot) that is made up of adhesive
cells. They can move along the rocks if necessary, but very slowly. Some sea anemones
can quickly detach themselves and gyrate their bodies back and forth to escape predators.
Protection: The mild venom in their nematocysts (stinging structures) makes them a less
than appetizing meal for most.
Predators: Some sea slugs
Diet: Plankton and whatever unsuspecting small animal that tumbles into their ring of
tentacles.
Other facts:
Their green coloration comes from a species of algae that lives inside their bodies.
The anemone is not harmed by the algae and can even digest it if needed.
Sea anemones have a two-way digestive system. This means that what goes in their
mouth, exits their mouth as waste.