Relaxing Weekend...

[rockyptjoe]

Spent the weekend of May 1 in Penasco....haven't been able to get down for about 2 months....very relaxing, although the wind was blowing nicely....beaches along the Mirador were deserted.

http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs290.snc3/28173_392135757140_782972140_3873737_5527755_n.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3873738&id=782972140)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs320.ash1/28173_392135752140_782972140_3873736_1343785_n.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3873737&id=782972140)

http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs290.snc3/28173_392135772140_782972140_3873739_2889539_n.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3873741&id=782972140)



http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs280.snc3/28173_392135762140_782972140_3873738_6312655_n.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3873739&id=782972140)

[Seadweller]

Nice shots Joe... I saw that same sunset... I like the brittle star...

[rockyptjoe]

Shot the sunset from the BooBar.....didn't have much chance to chat with Jose on Sat. night when they had the fights, so we had dinner there Sun. evening.

[Wahoo]

Sea Dweller, What do you know about these, they are all over the place, are they edible? Pressure cooker w/sazon?http://www.rockypointtalk.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1058&cid=1&stc=1

[Red Drum]

Sea Dweller, What do you know about these, they are all over the place, are they edible? Pressure cooker w/sazon?http://www.rockypointtalk.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1058&cid=1&stc=1

Actually looks a little like a monster Cockle Clam. Probably would make for some tasty chowder and definitely some AWESOME for fish bait. If you that clam on a hook, you'd go major bendo, everthing would eat that clam, guaranteed!

[Seadweller]

Wahoo... those are a cockle, I've never had any of them but the "callo" (scallop or muscle that holds the shell closed) is the good part of them... If you try them let me know how they are...

[Wahoo]

thanks for the direction, I found out they are called "Great Heart Cockle" and lists "a Great clam chowder".
When I found it it looked so strange, but this link might explain the innards. a hermaphroditic colony.
I think it had at least five tubes
It stayed open but the more I handled it the tighter it closed.


http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/123695/4918/Great-heart-cockle

[Kenny]

I'm pretty sure I know exactly where you are at from your pictures Wahoo, and I've seen lots of the shells from those clam's on the beach there; but I didn't think they were from that area though. We get shell's from all over the world in there, and I just assumed they came in on the tide. How did you detect it etc?

[Wahoo]

shells are native to their habitat. Shells do not travel, float. All shells found in Penasco beaches are local this area.

Yes this is Pinto Bay, the sands and dunes are traveling east and one will be able to almost walk across the estuary to the point where homes exist. (in about 8-12 years) This area has tides giving way to what seems miles of flats.
The currents are making deep exits that now are full of corvina coming in to eat the shellfish and small fish feeding on the exiting estuary.

The Giant clams, white and flat and about 5"" are the most common. I will research this Great Heart cockle, I have found them different than the Great cockle, the difference is that the inside of the Great is a very pretty Pink inside and the deep ridges radiating out. The yellow one I think is called a Giant Heart Cockle vs Great Heart cockle. The ones recently opened are a pearly white inside, not PINK.

[Kenny]

Don't know how I missed this but one reason I find shells that are listed in books as from another location is that some have larvae that are planktonic, and they can drift on the currents for many miles. A few species are almost worldwide in distribution because of this dispersion method. It may also be that a climatological or biotopical change has allowed other species to recently move in as well, I know this has happened elsewhere. Some warm water species have been expanding their ranges Northward. This has happened in animals and fish, as well as mollusc's. For instance; Snook have been reported in the Sea of Cortez, and now the Rosterfish is as far north as PP.
I knew those cockles had not been swept into that catch basin by the tide by their pristine condition, but I didn't think I'd been walking on them either...again, how did you detect them?

[Wahoo]

... at the extreme low tide when it turns i noticed all these clumps coming out of the ground. I think these shells have an internal clock that tells them the tide is coming in. Most of the clumps turned out to be the "gastropods" the brown, tan and black swirling conches. They are about 3 inches, with a huge soft single claw sticking out.

I think they come out to be the first to feed on rising tides for the small invertebrae, plankton etc? The cockle was a huge clump I thought it was dead, as i cleaned it it slowly closed. If you look carefully at the edges of the emptying trenches you can sea water spouts about 2-3inches high , . I bet if you dig right there you will find a cockle. The pressure of the spouts is much stronger than clams. It is a funnel sucking water at one end and spitting it out the other, with anemonoe like structures to catch the invertebrates or even baby crabs.

[Kenny]

There was a time when I was a kid at Cholla bay, that during the biggest tidal movement of the year, (it was summer, 58 or so) the shellfish came out of the sand and started crawling around, and not just one kind either. There were Conch's, thousands of them, along with a lot of what's commonly called Olive shells, and a bunch of other snails as well. My folks and the others who chased the tide that day seemed to know that was going to happen (I've never seen it since) because they had gunny sacks and such to haul the Conch's back in. They had some idea of inlaying a fireplace with them, or some such. I remember very well how much work it was to boil and clean out the Conch's. These were not the big Conch's we used to get diving off the rocks, but one's that were about 4 or 5 inches long. The big one's we just hung by there foot until they just wore out, and then the shell just dropped off with very little of the animal left inside to clean, but man, was it ugly!

[beachgirl]

Exactly where is Pinto Bay and how do you get there?