Tide Tables
The Oregon Coast has many old salts who
know a thing or two about tides. Seek out
those locals and access the information
provided by the local newspapers and on
the internet. Oregon Coast TODAY pub-
lishes a weekly tide chart (see page 17)
and there are several tide apps available
online. I like the visual representations pro-
vided by a NOAA app entitled Tide Alert.
PATRICK ALEXANDER
Tide and peek
Just when things are looking
up — look down
By MICHAEL EDWARDS
For the TODAY
A purple sea star wraps its five rigid arms
around a barnacle encrusted California
mussel. Employing hundreds of tiny,
hydraulically actuated tubed feet in unison,
the sea star breaks the bivalve’s tenacious
seal. With the mussel’s formidable defense
penetrated, the sea star extends its cardiac
stomach from its mouth and into the
mussel’s exposed soft flesh. After it reels in
its bloated viscera and transfers the mussel’s
liquifying tissue into its pyloric stomach
for further digestion, the voracious hunter’s
nerve network signals that it is feeding in
a desiccation zone, so in order to ensure
survival, the sea star creeps along the rock
and back into the cold, roiling sea.
For more than 300 million years, animals
like the sea star and the California mussel
have adapted to, and even thrived in the
Pacific Coast’s harsh and ever-changing
intertidal environment. Some of the most
inconspicuous creatures living in the tide
pools are also its most highly adapted. To
most of us, the humble keyhole limpet
might easily be missed, but to a scientist,
the small snail presents a treasure trove of
unlocked secrets.
Marine scientists in the United Kingdom
have discovered that the tiny teeth of the
limpet are five to six times stronger than
the silk web of a spider and even stronger
than Kevlar. From these findings, engineers
extract ideas that could become to the
12 • oregoncoastTODAY.com • facebook.com/oregoncoasttoday • May 29, 2020
MICHAEL EDWARDS