There were lots of hermit crabs scooting around in the tide pools. A pair of them got into a bit of a scrimmage; actually, one attacked the other, who fought back for a bit then scuttled away, with the larger one in pursuit. They were in shells of the same species, and the crabs too seemed to be of the same species—their “feet” were light-coloured. I wonder what the fight was about. Maybe they were just feeling crabby.
What a joy it was, to have a full weekend of camping and nature journaling with 22 other curious nature lovers at Leo Carrillo State Park.
I got to wondering — who was Leo Carrillo (1915–1957)? Turns out he was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, philanthropist, and conservationist. He gained lasting fame when he played the role of Pancho on early television’s “The Cisco Kid.”
Carrillo served on the California Beach and Parks commission for 18 years and played a key role in the state’s acquisition of Hearst Castle at San Simeon, Los Angeles Arboretum, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. He was also an ardent historic preservationist and helped to save a number of historic buildings in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.
His legacy is not entirely golden, however. During World War II, Carrillo advocated for the removal of all Japanese Americans from the west coast. In a 1944 telegram to Congressman Leland Ford that received extensive coverage, Carrillo wrote: “…it seems that every [Japanese] farmhouse is located on some strategic elevated point. Let‘s get them off the coast and into the interior.”
As for pronunciation of his last name, we now say “Car-reeyo“ with the “y“ for double “l“ as in Mexican Spanish. However, his autobiography* phonetically spelled what his family considered the correct Castilian pronunciation: “Cay-reel-yo” with a liquid Castilian double “l”. *Carrillo, Leo (1961). The California I Love.
Striped shore crabs (Pachygrapsus crassipes) live along the west coast of North America, from Baja California, Mexico, to central Oregon. Measuring 4 – 5 cm across the carapace, they can be found in estuaries, tide pools, mussel beds, or scuttling along shoreline rocks. These, and hermit crabs, are the most common crustaceans I see at my local tide pools.
Though they feed mostly on algae and phytoplankton, they are opportunistic and will also eat animals including dead fish, limpets, snails, isopods, worms, and mussels. They will even eat recently molted specimens of their own species. They are prey for seagulls, octopuses, rats, raccoons, and humans.
Though most crabs and many shore crabs spend the majority of their time underwater, P. crassipes is an exception. They apparently spend more than half their time on land, though they typically stay close to the water’s edge.
It’s always fun to poke around the tide pools with Suzanne. We saw several California brown sea hares (Aplysia californica), so-named because their rhinophores look like long ears. Like all sea hares, the California sea hare is hermaphroditic, acting as male and female simultaneously during mating. A. californica is known to form mating chains with up to 20 animals. That would be a sight to see!
Poking around the tide pools with Suzanne was a perfect way to spend the first morning of summer.
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