(tense music) - oh my gosh. guys, look at that. - [mark] what's that? - that's a gumboot. (dramatic music) the cold, blue water ofthe salish sea is unlike anything i have ever seen. it's an intricate mazeof waterways scattered
with various island chains. and beneath the surface,a kingdom of animals that are seldom encountered. i'm gonna touch it, ready? however, if you findyourself along its incredible stretch of shoreline,or even better, on the edge of oneof its many islands, you stand the chance ofcoming across intertidal marine animals.
today, the crew and i willbe venturing by way of boat to the uninhabited doe island. a satellite landmassadjacent orcas island, it can be explored fromits northernmost point to its southernmost pointin under 30 minutes. while there are very few animalsliving within the interior, at low tide, theshoreline is peppered with bizarre sea creatures. so it was only a matter oflooking in the right places
to find something we canget in front of the cameras. alright, it is justus and the island. wow, it's a really coolfeeling to come onto a spot that is completelyuninhabited, free of humans, anything is possible. what we're really aftertoday is the marine life that's hiding in andamongst these rocks. now, it is low tide, asyou can see, all this kelp, and algae, and seagrass is going to be
extremely slippery, sowatch your ankles, guys, this is not the kind ofplace you want to twist one, and end up hobblingacross this terrain. so let's go up this direction. and hopefully comeacross some cool animals. alright, well here'ssomething we didn't expect. we got through allthis dense underbrush, and right in the middleof the island is a trail. this should make traversingit to the other side
much simpler. alright guys, look at this. the tide is all theway back from here. that is perfecttidepooling area. i see some pockets rightthere filled with eel grass. i see some kelp down in there. this is gonna be perfect forfinding marine creatures. alright, let's go. that's a big piece of driftwood.
whoa, this pocket'sfilled with little snails. look at all those little guys. oh, look at this.- what you got? - i don't know if youcan zoom in there. look in that little crevice,can you see back here? - [cameraman] i got it,yeah, i see something there. what is that? - that's called a sea lemon. now, i can see it's got itslittle sensory organs out.
and see that little frillycluster in the back there? right there? those receptors help them sensechemicals in the environment and that's how thesecreatures move about and study their environment. alright, i'm gonna get it. are you ready?- yep, go for it. - okay, real slowly here,you're gonna be very gummy. oh, come here, buddy.
alright, yep, tucked all in. there it is, that's a sea lemon. also known as a droid, andit has very warty skin. sometimes, you can find theseand they're real bright yellow that's why they'recalled sea lemons. they also have these verydistinct little black specklings all over their backs. - [cameraman] does itsmell like a lemon? - good question.
nope, it smells like a slug. and they are relatedto slugs and mollusks, and if i turn it up likethis, see the underside there? there's its foot. pretty cool, huh? - [cameraman] verylemony looking. - yeah, it's likea big gummy lemon. look at that, justlike the warty sea cat, that we found in costarica, it just kind of turns
into a glob when youhold it in your hands. alright you guys, readyto put this sea lemon back under the log? - let's do it.- okay. before we do, i got a quicktongue-twister for you. ready?- alright. - not all lemons are sealemons, but all sea lemons live in the sea. try saying that 10 times fast.
- [cameraman] not allsea lemons (stammering) yep, can't do it. - yeah, not easy is it? alright, here wego, bye little guy. right there, give ita second to grab on. the sea lemon may not be themost difficult animal to catch, however, finding one issaid to be good luck, as they are an indicatorspecies and signal a very healthy ecosystem.
this gave me a strongsense of confidence, because if the environmentis free of pollutants, that means morecreatures to find. what, nothing? i thought that one was gonnayield something amazing. alright, look at this one. this is kind of neat to note. look, how all of the seaweedis completely matted down and dried up in the sunlight.
so, underneath thisis where an animal would potentially findrefuge from the sun once the tide has gone out. come on lucky rock. whoa.- whoa! - geez, look at this. it is a huge prickleback. wow, that is the biggestone i've ever seen. and this, let melook at its face.
i believe this isa rock prickleback, and i can tell that based onthe distinct striped marking right there on thefront of its head. look at that, it's huge. now, you look at thiscreature, and you're probably thinking to yourself,coyote, that's an eel, that's not a fish. as a matter of fact, it isa fish, it's not a true eel at all despite the factit really looks like one.
now, it's impossiblefor me to completely keep this thing still. there we go, settledown right there. zoom in on the headof this animal, mark. you see those distinct stripes? - [mark] i do. - that's how i wasable to identify it as a rock prickleback. there's several pricklebackspecies in this area,
but this is the largest. and this may lookbig to you and me, this is the biggestone i ever caught, but they can grow to beabout three feet in length. - oh man.- yeah. - [mark] so, coyote, is itslimy or is it slippery, what's it like? - incredibly slimy and slippery. and here's something reallycool about these pricklebacks.
they can actually breathe air. they breathe underwaterwith their gills. and when the tide goesout, they can stay out of the water for severalhours breathing air. now notice that ridge asit runs along its back. that dorsal spine, that haslittle tiny spikes on it, and i can feel that kind oflike the fins of a blue gill. and it's not sharp enoughto necessarily prick me, but they use that tohelp themselves balance
when swimming underwater. - [mark] so coyote, thesefish, can they dry out? because we foundthem out of water. there's no waterunder these rocks. - well, they can'tdry completely out. so, if it was sittingout on a rock in the sun, that would obviously kill it,. but underneath a rock,even if there's no water, they can secrete amucus from their skin
that keeps themwet and slippery. now, i do keep dippingit into the water. here, watch this. i just kind of keep itshead cupped and dip it in. that allows it tostay cool and moist. and i think at this point,it's probably safe to say we can release this pricklebackback off into the ocean. you ready?- good idea, let's do it. there he goes.
- alright, let's keep searching. with what seemed like anendless supply of smaller rocks to carefully search beneath,we also found ourselves maneuvering over andaround massive boulders that were exposedby the low tide. and while these massiverock structures would not be possible to overturn,searching for animals under crevices was aperfect place to look. a good shaded spot here.
look, this is stillwet and slippery. oh, look at that right there. see that? that's a chiton,nope that's a chiton. looks like a barnacleor part of the rock. that's actually a mollusk. hold on a second, i'mgonna see if i can gently get it off here. they really suction onto rocks.
- it's coming off?- yeah, yeah, yeah. there we go. whoa, look at theunderside of that thing. looks just like the footof a slug, doesn't it? - not a barnacle?- no, it's not a barnacle. this is a mollusk, they'rerelated to slugs and snails. now, this is a small species,i'm not sure which species. look at the back there, yousee all these armored plates that run down the center,those are called vents.
and believe it or not, thelargest species of chiton lives in this area. and that's honestly what i'mhoping to come across today. the tide is low enough,it's just the matter of being in the rightplace at the right time, and finding the rightseries of rocks. and i'm gonna place thisone back here in the shade. alright, let's keepmoving and try to find the giant gumboot.
- gum what?- gumboot chiton. so far, aside fromthe prickleback, everything we werefinding was rather small. that is until i jumpedbetween two boulders and found myself inthe land of giants. wow, a hermit crab. ooh, what's that? that's the littlesea cucumber again. oh my goodness, look at this.
look at the sizeof that sea star. and it's purple. wow, have you ever seen asea star that big before? - [mark] no, i've never seenone that purple either, wow. - that is a first for me. - [mark] i think thatcould be our star. oh my gosh, guys.- what? - this is one thingi'd hoped we'd find. - is there a bigger one?- no, no, no, look at this.
i got it, i got it. look at that.- what is that? - that's a gumboot.- what's a gumboot? - it's a chiton, it isactually a type of mollusk related to snails and slugs. and i think betweenthe two of these, we have found ourfeature creatures. alright, actually the tideis starting to come back in at this point.
let's move up a littleways, and get these two up close for the cameras. whew, this is awesome. whew.- how'd we do? - i would say that was quitepossibly the most successful tidepool adventurefeature we have ever had. most of the animalspecies that we found, we showed you quicklyand them we released them right back into the wild.
but our two featurecreatures, we just had to take some time to get upclose for the camera. - now, i'm gonna reachinto the bucket here. i did bring a bucket justin case we found something. it was worth holding on tofor a little bit of time. - [mark] you can seethe tide is all in now. - yeah, the tide is comingback in pretty quickly. so we only have a fewminutes with these animals. but if you are ready, let'sgo with the first one.
you set?- let's see them. - okay, here we go. this is the largest seastar i have ever seen. look, he's got algae andkelp all over his little tube feet there.- and it's purple. - it is purple. now, i will give you oneguess as to what type of sea star this is. wait, here's a hint,what color is it?
- [mark] grape. - close, and a good guess,it is a purple sea star. and this is one of thelargest species you can find off the pacific coast. and honestly, it isthe biggest sea star i have ever handled. look at this thing. i'm gonna gently peel offa little bit of this kelp and algae from its tube feet.
yeah, clean you up here, buddy. now, i'm gonna turn it andlet's look at the underside. check this out. see all theselittle white things that look likespaghetti noodles? those are called tube feet. now, they have thousandsof these and they're used to slowly move overthe surface of rocks when they're underwater.
and actually, believe or not,i say slowly move over rocks, when a sea star needs to,it actually can travel pretty quickly. now, aside from movement,these tube feet are also used to help them catch andconsume their prey. now, what they primarily feaston are mollusks and clams. and what they will do, let'ssay my hand is a mollusk, and you know how they closeup in their shell like this. what it will do is completelyengulf the mollusk,
wrap its arms around andthen use all of its power to peel the shell slightly open. then, they take their mouth. they actually everttheir mouth and stomach. so that means that theirmouth and stomach comes out of the center of their body. they release digestiveenzymes into their prey, it breaks down the prey's body. so it essentially killsthem, poisons them,
and then they're able tosuck all that delicious flesh into their mouthsand they have a meal. you wanna knowsomething really gross? after they'veconsumed their food, they actually poop it rightback out of that same hole. mouth and butt right in thesame spot, how crazy is that? - that's disgusting.- totally disgusting. but what an interestingtidepool creature. and without question,the largest sea star
i have ever seen. now, i know in pastepisodes of beyond the tide, we've shown you guysthe little bat stars, and a couple of smallerspecies, but this thing is about as big as my face. now one cool thing thatwe do know about sea stars is that if they lose alimb, it can regenerate. so, let's say it getsstuck in a rock or a bird or some other sort of predatorcomes in and bites off
one of these legs, it's notgonna kill the sea star. it's called caudal autonomyand it will eventually grow that limb back. now this is a very commonspecies up and down the pacific coast. and they're pretty simpleto find when the tide is at its absolute lowest. pretty cool, huh?- the purple sea star. - the purple sea star.
alright, i'm gonna putthis back into the bucket, and let's bringout our big star. you ready for this?- alright. guest number two, let's do it. - alright, let meget it out of here. - [mark] whoa. - look at that. this is, in my opinion, oneof the most bizarre creatures we could've come across.
kind of reminds me ofthe black sea hare, but it's not as squishy. now, this chiton is very uniqueamongst other chiton species because, i'm gonnaturn it this way, and the one that we showedyou earlier had these distinct valves that rancross-length of the back. they're kind oflike armor plating. now, this variety doesalso has those valves, but they're covered inthis thick rugged skin.
this skin is called the girdle. now, you're probably thinking,what does that feel like. is it real slimy? it's not, go ahead, mark,put your hand out there and touch the backof that chiton. - [mark] it's like anelephant or something. - it is. it feels like an elephantor rhinoceros skin. now, this is verytough, very durable.
not only helps keepthem camouflaged, but also protects themagainst potential predators. - [mark] this one is red, wesaw some smaller ones earlier and they were like brown. - yeah, that's true,and this red coloration, i don't know exactlywhy it's red. you would think, maybeit stays in kelp, and perhaps that's whatkeeps it camouflaged. kelp is kind of thisreddish-orange coloration.
they do feed on primarilyalgae, so i don't know, that tough skin though,definitely is gonna defend it against any potential predators. - [mark] so whatpart am i looking at? is there a head? - oh yeah, let's look atthe anatomy of the gumboot. it's very strong, so i can onlykind of hold it open there. now, just like aslug, they have a foot that's right in the middle here.
that big area down there. and they also have a mouth,which tucked in underneath here. and inside thatmouth is a radula. a radula is kind oflike a scrapy tongue, it's covered in these littleteeth and they use that to drag across rockswhere they feast on algae which is their primarysource of food. so this is an herbivore. now behind these flaps,you see these right here,
they have gills just like abrown or a black sea hare. we can't expose those, i'dhave to actually peel them back and i don't think it willbe too happy if i do that, but they use those tobreathe underwater. now, most chiton species arecapable of really suctioning onto rocks. this species though,actually is not able to hold on very tightly. so oftentimes, rough waveswill peel them from the rocks,
and you'll see them washedup on shore like this, just facing upright. and unfortunately, theyaren't able to flip over, and they bake inthe sun and die. so, we definitely need toreturn this creature back to the water, and hopefully upunderneath a big strong rock. - [mark] they canactually live out of water for quite a while, right? - they can, and as long asthey stay positioned downward,
like this, and flattenout their bodies, they can stay out ofwater for a considerable amount of time. - [mark] so are they likea hedgehog in the sense they can curl up ina ball like that? - well that's a good question. well we know, hedgehogs aremammals, this is not a mammal. this is a mollusk. and they can curlup to about there.
it's not gonna curl upcompletely into a ball. what it's doing right now isprotecting its foot, its mouth, and its gills, which areright behind these flaps here. and i guess thesemust be parapodia, just like a black sea hare hasvery soft, kind of flexible parapodia, these are very dense, very tough muscles right there. - [mark] so it basically cancurl up into a pac-man shape? - yeah, pretty much.
you look at it fromthe side there, that's like a giant pac-man. also kind of lookslike an alien creature that would maybesuction onto your face, but it's not gonna do that. good news for me,they also do not bite, so i have nothingto worry about. they are not venomous,they are not poisonous. this is a completelysafe species to handle
if you happen to findone in the tide pool. - [mark] so coyote,how rare is a gumboot? - that's a good question. i have never comeacross a gumboot before, and i've come acrossmany chiton species. the only time you'llfind these giants is when the tide has recededout to its lowest interval. that allowed us today to getup underneath some big rocks and that's wherei found this guy,
and got up-closefor the cameras. definitely one ofthe coolest creatures that we have featuredon beyond the tide. now this is the largestchiton species in the world, and they can grow tobe 14 inches in length and weigh as much asfour and a half pounds. how about that for a giant? - [mark] so what eats these? does anything eat one of these?
- small crabs wouldeat along the edges of this animal's body, butfrom what marine biologists have observed, it doesn'tseem to necessarily injure or distract thiscreature from moving along the ocean floor. - [mark] so it doesn't havea whole lot of predators is what you're saying? - no, but here'san interesting fact that you may not know.
the gumboot is actuallyedible if you're a human. (groans) believe it or not, ina worst-case scenario, let's say you'restranded on an island, and you've run out ofcoconuts and crabs, and you find a gumboot, thisinternal fleshy area is edible. although i'd have to imagineit would taste pretty gross. i mean, just that name,gumboot, i'm imagining it's like eating a verychewy boot that probably
has the taste ofdisgusting ocean water. - [mark] we're headedback to shore tonight, so we're gonna have pizza. - yeah, i'm gonna eat pizzatonight and not a gumboot. well i would definitelysay that this was one epic excursion. exploring doe islandwhere we came across more marine speciesthan we've ever featured on an episode ofbeyond the tide.
i'm coyote peterson saying,be brave, stay wild. we'll see you onthe next adventure. whoa, look at this, thetide is coming back in which means it's timeto put the animals back into the ocean. exploring along theshoreline of doe island, we came across somefascinating marine animals. species like the gumbootchiton and purple sea star are rarely exposed.
so it's only when the tideis at its absolute lowest that creatures likethis can be encountered and safely admired. if you come across eitherof these two in the wild, remember that they arecompletely harmless. however, it's always bestto simply admire them from a respectful distanceso that you do not disturb their natural behavior cycle. hey coyote pack, have youpicked up your tickets
for the braveadventures tour yet? there's only a few left somake sure to click on this link to reserve your seats today. and remember, thetour is the only place you can find one ofthe exclusive goldenadventure tickets. and don't forget, subscribe,so you can join me and the crew on ournext big adventure. i am so proud to havewritten this book, and it was inspired bya lot of the adventures
that we have had.