Tide Bites

Red rock crabs: the Dungeness' grouchy cousins

Native red rock crabs (Cancer productus) are important predators on protected rocky nearshore communities from Alaska to Baja California. While they are harvested recreationally,…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Sylvia Yamada and Scott Groth

Scanning All Fish!

Recently, FHL became home to the Karel F. Liem Bio-Imaging Center. The centerpiece of the shared research facility is a very capable micro-source CT…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Adam Summers, with Kory Evans-Jackson and Malorie Hayes

Tide Bites: Sketching Science in the San Juans

When you have a question about something you see in nature, a research scientist provides you with an answer in words. My explanation, on…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Andrea Dingeldein

An Intertidal Compass!

When you are trying to find your way home from a new place, you probably reach for your phone or GPS to ask for…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Julia Sigwart

Big fish, small pond: An atypical development strategy in a local fish species — no bones, all bulk!

Marine fishes usually start life with a larval phase, during which they are known as ichthyoplankton. Tiny and typically transparent, these animals experience an…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Daniel Geldof

First European green crab in Washington’s Salish Sea

“Sylvia, I think we caught one!” Craig Staude shouted excitedly as he and his team of volunteers opened a baited trap in a tidal…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Sylvia Yamada and Craig Staude

Reading the minds of sea slugs

In 1964 Dennis Willows and his PhD advisor Graham Hoyle spent a summer at Friday Harbor Labs to work on the giant muscle fibers…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by William Frost, PhD

When the tide goes out, the table is set… for suspension feeders

The tides in the San Juan Islands are a remarkable feature of the landscape. Regularly reaching current speeds of 5 miles per hour, the…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Alex Lowe

Getting a Head with Regeneration

Invertebrates, or animals without a spine, are the masters of regeneration. Many animals are able to regrow missing or damaged body parts and some…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Shawn Luttrell

Avoiding High Temperatures at a Snail's Pace

Snails are the quintessential slow animals. They manage to move from place to place, but at a pace that is infamous. These animals don’t…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Hilary Hayford, Ph.D.

FHL Researchers attend the Ascidiacea WoRMS Workshop, 15-17 February 2016 in Oostende, Belgium

As Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy, said: “If you do not know the names of things, the knowledge of them is lost, too.” (Linnaeus,…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Gretchen Lambert and Billie J. Swalla

TIDE BITES: A re-fit for Research Vessel Centennial

Friday Harbor Labs' 58-foot research vessel was built in 1990 and worked several Alaskan fisheries until she was purchased by FHL in 2002, converted…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Meegan Corcoran, FHL's new Marine Operations Manager

TIDE BITES: An Octopus’ Garden in the Urban Underwater Environment

In 1955, Columbia Pictures released the thriller It Came From Beneath The Sea, in which an enormous octopus begins terrorizing the good citizens of…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Eliza Heery

TIDE BITES: How Can There Be So Many Skate Species ... and Why Should We Care?

Skates are cartilaginous marine fishes that are closely related to sharks. They can be considered cold-water rays since they generally replace ray species in…

Published in Tide Bites
Written by Joseph J. Bizzarro, Ph.D.