

How do these ocean creatures live in a tide pool? It hosts a rich ecosystem of marine shorelines. The intertidal zone is the area where the ocean meets the land between high and low tides. A closer look to see these red sea stars and green sea anemones. Could you see three groups of tide pool animals in the picture? These three groups are mussels, sea stars, and sea anemones, as illustrated in the right image. The left picture was taken in Olympic National Park, WA. Tide pools present the perfect opportunity for people to easily observe ocean lives. Tide pools are pockets of saltwater left behind during a low tide, filled with a wide variety of marine animals and seaweed.

This makes tide pools the best natural classroom for studying sea lives such as snails, barnacles, mussels, sea anemones, sea stars, crustaceans, seaweed, and small fish. Many marine creatures will also be trapped in these small basins. During the low tides, these tide pools are filled with seawater that gets trapped as the tide recedes. Tide pools can be found in depressions along the shoreline of rocky coasts.

