Identifying Intertidal Organisms
Displays
Commonly Found Invertebrate Specimens - Labeled display of what you are most likely to find at Island County beaches. Located on second floor of the Admiralty Head Lighthouse).
EZ-ID Guides
These EZ-ID online pages are a constantly evolving resource where you will find hints and photographs intended to facilitate identification and appreciation of intertidal animals, seaweeds, seagrasses & shore plants found on Island County Beaches. Check our EZ ID Guide pages frequently for newly added material!
For reference at the beach, these EZ-ID Beachgoing guides provide plasticized 8x11 sheets of the most commonly found organisms to be found on Island County beaches.
Helpful Books
This list of books is not intended to be comprehensive but instead a suggested list of books with which to start with. These titles and many excellent additional titles are available through your local public library and/or elsewhere.
Beachcomber's Guide to Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest by Thomas M. Niesen. Houston, Tex: Gulf Publishing Company, ©1997.
Beachcombers Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest by J.Duane Sept. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, ©1999.
Between Pacific Tides by Edward F. Ricketts, Jack Calvin and Joel W Hedgepeth. 5th ed. Revised by David W Phillips. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1985.
Common Seashore Life of the Pacific Northwest by Lynwood Smith. Illustrated by constance Gabriel Schulte. Edited by Vinson Brown. Healdsburg, CA:Naturegraph Publishers, ©1962.
Exploring the Seashore in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon by Gloria Snively. Edited by Gordon R. Elliott. Vancouver: Gordon Soules Book Publishing, Ltd; Mercer Island, Wash: Writing Works, ©1978.
Fieldbook of Pacific Northwest Sea Creatures by Dan H. McLachlan and Jak Ayres. Happy Camp, CA:Naturegraph, ©1979.
Guide to Common Seaweeds of British Columbia by R. F. Scagel. Illus. by Ernani G. Meņez. [Victoria] K. M. MacDonald, Printer to the Queen, 1972 [reprinted 1973]
Guide to Marine Coastal Plankton and Marine Invertebrate Larvae by DeBoyd L. Smith. Dubuque, Iowa : Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1977.
Guide to Marine Coastal Plankton and Marine Invertebrate Larvae by DeBoyd L. Smith and Kevin B. Johnson. 2nd ed. Dubuque, Iowa : Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., ©1996.
Guide to Marine Invertebrates: Alaska to Baja California by Daniel W. Gotschall. Monterey, CA: Sea Challengers, 1994.
Marine Biology by Herbert Webber and Harold Thurman. 2nd ed. New York, NY:Harper Collins Publishers, ©1991.
Marine Life and the Sea by David H. Milne. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company, ©1995.
Marine Wildlife : From Puget Sound Through the Inside Passage by Steve Yates ; illustrations by Catherine Eaton Skinner, Fred Sharpe, D.R. Harriott. Seattle, Wash. : Sasquatch Books, 1998.
Marine Wildlife of Puget Sound, the San Juans, and the Straight of Georgia by Steve Yates. Chester, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 1988. [this is the older edition of the above book]
North Pacific Seaweed by Rita M. O'Clair and Sandra C. Lindstrom. Illustrations by Katherine M. Hocker and Patricia s. Holley. Auke Bay, Alaska:Plant Press, c2000.
Pacific Coast Crabs and Shrimps by G.C. Jensen. Monterey, CA:Sea Challengers, 1995.
Pacific Coast Inshore Fishes by Daniel W. Gotschall. Monterey, CA:Sea Challengers, 1989.
Pacific Coast Nudibranchs: A Guide to the Opistobranchs: Alaska to Baja California by David W. Behrens. Monterey, CA:Sea Challengers, 1980, 1991.[Public Library has 1980 edition]
Pacific Coast Pelagic Invertebrates: A Guide to the Common Gelantinous Animals by David Wrobel and Claudia Mills. Monerey, CA:Sea Challengers:Monterey Bay Aquarium, 1998.
Pacific Coast Subtidal Marine Invertebrates by Daniel W. Gotschall and Laurence L. Laurent. Los Osos, CA:Sea Challengers, 1979.
Sea Cucumbers of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, and Puget Sound: Royal Bristish Columbia Museum Handbook by P. Lambert. Vancouver, BC:UBC Press, 1997.
Sealife: A Complete Guide to the Marine Environment edited by Geoffrey Waller. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, ©1996
Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast : An Illustrated Guide to Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia by Eugene N. Kozloff. Seattle: University of Washington Press, ©1993. Fourth printing, 1996. Paperback.
Seashore of the Pacific Northwest by Ian Sheldon. Edmonton, BC: Lone Pine Publishing, 1998.
Shells and Shellfish of the Pacific Northwest: A Field Guide by R.M. Harbo. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1997.
Whelks to Whales: Coastal Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest by Rick M. Harbo. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, ©1999.
Videos
Life at the Edge of the Sea [videorecording]. A Rodger Jackman Production for Thirteen/WNET and BBC-TV. New York: Thirteen/WNET, ©1998. (Nature Video Library series). 55 min.