Tidepools
A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. These pools typically range from a few inches to a few feet deep and a few feet across. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only at low tide, as seawater gets trapped when the tide recedes. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. A tidal cycle is usually about 25 hours and consists of two high tides and two low tides.
Tide pool habitats are home to especially adaptable animals, like snails, barnacles, mussels, anemones, urchins, sea stars, crustaceans, octopus, and small fish, as well as seaweed. Inhabitants must be able to cope with constantly changing water levels, water temperatures, salinity, and oxygen content. At low tide, there is the risk of predators like seabirds. These pools have engaged the attention of naturalists and marine biologists, as well as philosophical essayists: John Steinbeck wrote in The Log from the Sea of Cortez, "It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool."
Tidal pools are theorized to be one possible environment where life on Earth originated, with the chemical reactions needed for life's beginnings potentially occurring in these shallow, dynamic environments. Additionally, the conditions within tidal pools, such as the presence of fluctuating water levels and unique chemical concentrations, may have also driven the evolution of land-walking vertebrates from ancient fish approximately 400 million years ago.
Some examples have been artificially augmented to enable safer swimming (for example without waves or without sharks) in seawater at certain states of the tide.
Tidepooling is an educational and recreational activity in which people visit tidepools formed during low tide to view the rock formations and living organisms they contain. Unlike scuba diving or other underwater ways of viewing undersea life, tidepooling is a low-risk activity that does not require expensive equipment or extensive logistics.
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