A2 East Transect – 2017

Permanent Site: A2 East Transect; Depth: 12.9 Meters (42.3 Feet); Distance from river mouth: Kilometers 1.8 (1.1 Miles); Pre/Post Dam Removal: 6 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.14130295, -123.58766124; Site Description: One of our deeper sites at over 40 feet. Sediment is primarily sand/sandy mud. Five species of seaweeds are present though not abundant. The two most common species are the acid kelp Desmarestia (0:47, 1:02 seconds) and Costaria costata (0:40, 1:58 seconds). Bull kelp Nereocystis luetkeana was present but not seen on the video. Bivalves are abundant, especially geoduck Panopea generosa (very large siphons with two round openings visible at 0:40, 0:41, 0:43 seconds) and truncate softshell clams Mya truncata (small, white syphons visible at 0:27, 0:33 seconds). Butter clams (Saxidomus gigantea) and cockles (Clinocardium nuttallii) are also very common and the siphons of both species can be seen at 1:13 seconds. The cockle’s siphon is on the right (two wide-spread circles flush to the sea floor) and the butter clam’s is on the left (slightly smaller siphon with one of the two siphon openings appearing to have white eyelashes). Feather duster tubeworms are still abundant, especially the species Eudistylia vancouveri (0:15, 1:15 seconds), Schizobranchia insignis (1:43 seconds) and Eudistylia polymorpha (0:29 seconds).