Marine Life on Orchard Beach, NYC
A dear old friend of mine drove me to Orchard Beach in Pelham Bay Park (which is in the Bronx, on Long Island Sound) yesterday afternoon for two or three hours. I spent most of the time on the beach itself, looking for marine life. I did pretty well considering. I found two seaweeds that were new to me, at least new since I have been on iNat, although I had actually seen them before in my life before I signed up with iNat.
I would like to visit this beach again after a storm that blows in from the east, when I imagine a lot more good stuff would be thrown up. I would also like to investigate further the salt marsh areas beyond the extreme north end of the beach -- there are rocks there too, and even a few small tide pools. It would also be great to walk the foot paths of Twin Islands and Hunters Island.
The beach dates from the 1930s, and it was a Robert Moses project. Millions of cubic yards of sand from Sandy Hook and the Rockaways were brought in to create it. It is an impressively huge curving beach, and the views across the Sound are lovely.
People call Orchard Beach the "Bronx Riviera", and I can certainly see why.
Here is what I found.
Chelicerates:
Atlantic Horseshoe crab
Crustaceans:
Asian Shore Crab
Northern Acorn Barnacle
Polychaete worms:
Trumpet worms, the funnel-shaped sand casings
And the "chimneys" and egg masses of a large burrowing species
Bryozoa:
Kelp Lace Bryozoan
Mollusks:
Bivalves
Atlantic Ribbed Mussel
Blue Mussel
Common Jingle
Eastern Oyster
Chestnut Astarte
Atlantic Surfclam
Atlantic Jacknife Clam
Baltic Macoma
Northern Dwarf-Tellin
Softshell Clam
Gastropods
Flat Periwinkle
Convex Slippersnail
Common Atlantic Slippersnail
Shark Eye
Spotted Moonsnail -- new to iNat
Northern Moon Snail
Atlantic Oyster Drill
Knobbed Whelk
Eastern Mudsnail
Three-lined mudsnail
Seaweeds
Brown Algae:
Rockweed
Bladder Wrack
Knotted Wrack -- new to me on iNat
Red Algae:
Red puff balls
Several other species
Green Algae:
Dead men's fingers (Codium) -- new to me on iNat
Gutweed
Broadleaf Sea Lettuce
And others, including a possible Ulvaria obscura?
I photographed a dead fish which is an Atlantic Menhaden. I also photographed Ringed-bill Gulls -- no surprise there.
My best terrestrial finds were a nice big Bess Beetle (a Horned Passalus Beetle), and a plant of Black Swallow-Wort. Both were new to me.
Observations
Photos / Sounds
What
Northern Moonsnail (Euspira heros)Observer
susanhewittDescription
Th open umbilicus is characteristic of this species.
Photos / Sounds
What
Northern Dwarf-Tellin (Ameritella agilis)Observer
susanhewittDescription
A very small and very pretty species. The shell is less fragile than it looks.
Photos / Sounds
What
Atlantic Macoma (Macoma petalum)Observer
susanhewittDescription
The shells of this species are usually white or off-white, but this is the pink color variety, which is quite common in some parts of the world, but seems to be rare in NYC.
Photos / Sounds
What
Northern Quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria)Observer
susanhewittDescription
Some of these have no purple inside.
Photos / Sounds
What
Spotted Moonsnail (Euspira triseriata)Observer
susanhewittDescription
Found in the sand fairly high up on the beach.
Photos / Sounds
What
Threeline Mudsnail (Ilyanassa trivittata)Observer
susanhewittDescription
Found high up on the beach
Photos / Sounds
What
Chestnut Clam (Isocrassina castanea)Observer
susanhewittDescription
Found fairly high-up on the beach.
When the shell is wet it shows its features better.
When these are fresh dead, they have an extremely dark periostracum which is very adherent, and does not easily wear off at all, so these "bald" ones have probably been knocking around on the beach for a long, long time.
Comments
Nice finds!!!
Thanks Ken. I did enjoy the visit. Have you ever been here?
@oceanicadventures -- you might enjoy this post.
No I have never been there. I've hardy been anywhere unless I was at a coin convention. :( The only time I've ever been to the ocean was in Florida three or four times and I loved it :)
Well, Florida really can be fabulous, New York State beaches are not as superb, but still interesting!
Yes I bet they are neat in NY. Maybe someday I'll see it :) I noticed you found some Black Swallow-Wort. We've got the European here in a few places. I found a Large Milkweed bug on one once. It musta thought it was milkweed. :)
Thanks Susan, it’s a good list of species to get familiar with. It’s really strange how there’s barely any information specifically about the northeastern US mollusk fauna.
There is not a lot. Not many people associate the northeast with shell collecting.
@oceanicadventures -- There is Percy Morris's Peterson Field Guide "A field guide to shell of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and the West Indies" which was later updated by R. Tucker Abbott. But it is a bit too all-inclusive for what you want.
And a friend of mine suggested these:
Abbott's "Seashells of the Northern Hemisphere".
Abbott's Golden Nature Guide "Seashells of North America" (softcover, with illustrations by Sandberg.) That's still a great book, but as with all the ones I list here, the names of the taxa have changed a lot since the books were published.
Bousfield "Canadian Atlantic Sea Shells".
Emerson and Jacobson "Shells from Cape Cod to Cape May" (same comment as with Abbott -- names changed over the years) And this book also includes land and freshwater taxa.
Oh and also Emerson's American Museum of Natural History Guide to Shells.
Ok, thanks! I really do appreciate the help. I’ll definitely look into those
I am very fond of the Golden Guide by Abbott, even though it has in it shells from all the coasts of mainland US.
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