D2 West Transect – 2013

Permanent Site: D2 West Transect; Depth: 11.9 Meters (39.0 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 0.3 Kilometers (0.2 Miles); Pre/Post Dam Removal: 2 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.15233001,-123.56896603; Site Description: This site is right off the mouth of the river. Substrate is mainly gravel with some sand and cobble. Woody debris is seen (2:13 seconds). No live seaweeds are present. Only the dead stalks of the perennial seaweed Pterygophora californica remain. On the western most end of the transect three feather duster tubeworm species have become abundant; Chone aurantiaca (small, heart shapes on left at 0:15 seconds), Eudistylia polymorpha, and Myxicola infundibulum. The truncate softshell clam (Mya truncata) has also become abundant compared to previous years. Long, filamentous hydroids (0:23, 0:45, 2:35 seconds) are growing on substrate where there used to be seaweed. Other invertebrates seen on video: giant sea cucumber Parastichopus californicus (0:16 seconds), red rock crab Cancer productus (0:34 seconds), sunflower sea star Pycnopodia helianthoides (1:10, 2:26 seconds), blood sea star Henricia leviuscula leviuscula (1:14, 2:26 seconds), rainbow sea star Orthasterias koehleri (2:20 seconds).