Tag Archives: Bob Van Syoc

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Amy Ruegg had a rare sighting and a touching experience recently. She wrote, “Sydney [the dog] and I visited Pebble Beach  an hour or two before sunset. The tide was fairly low and several sea creatures were visible. We shared the beach with only one other, a young woman by herself. She had stopped and was looking very closely at something as I approached. She excitedly pointed at the water’s edge—a squid! There it was about six inches long, swimming along looking up at us with a surprising intelligence. We couldn’t believe it!"

“We chatted as we took pictures with our phones and enjoyed watching the lovely creature zip up and down with the wave action. She introduced herself, Pam, and shared she was on a solo journey to nourish herself after her husband filed for divorce. She said she almost drove past the beach access but something told her to turn around. She was entranced by the beauty and abundance of life on Pebble Beach. The squid kept looking up at us. I felt the special little squid was trying to tell her that magic happens! She was on the right path. It’s not just the sightings that bring us joy, but the deeply meaningful moments when Nature speaks to us like a guardian angel.”

I do believe there is great healing in Nature. From walks in the forest, which is sometimes referred to as forest bathing, to an encounter with a special squid, there is comfort to be had.

After searching my database for a previous squid sighting, I came up empty. This is the first squid sighting in the 17 years of writing my Mendonoma Sightings column in the Independent Coast Observer! I sent Amy’s photo to Bob Van Syoc. He wrote, “ Wow, that’s a very special sighting.  It’s Doryteuthis opalescens, sometimes called the market squid here.  I think the name “opalescens” is more descriptive of them in life as they can neurologically activate chromatophores (color and light producing areas) on their skin to  produce pulsating waves of color and light up and down their bodies!  One of the most captivating things I’ve seen was pairs of mating squid making those lovely color and light patterns.  The females lay finger-sized capsules of eggs masses in bunches after mating.  Like all cephalopods, they die soon after mating and reproducing a single time.  Doryteuthis opalescens does tend to reside further south, they are common around Monterey Bay.  But it’s not unheard of for them to show up on our coast.  Thanks for sharing the photos and the special experience Amy had with her new friend.”

This squid’s other common name is Opalescent Inshore Squid, which I’ve chosen to use rather than Market Squid.

Thanks to Amy for allowing me to share her photos with you here. What a great sighting!

Today is sunny, warm and calm, ie, no wind! This is forecast to be the warmest day of the next seven days. The Pacific Ocean looks to be flat calm, which can be deceptive, I know.

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Bob Van Syoc noticed this small Star in a tide pool off of The Sea Ranch, a Rainbow Star.

Marilyn Green reported on the sighting. She wrote, "Amy and Bob counted hundreds of Abalones at low tide, including some small ones. All were very close to shore. We also saw many types of Sea Stars. There was one that Bob had never seen at Pebble Beach before!” Bob photographed a Rainbow Sea Star, which measures about four inches across. This is the first sighting of this Star that I've had in the 15 years I've been writing my nature column!

Thanks to Bob for allowing me to share his photo with you here and to Marilyn for sending in the sightings.

Our warm, dry weather is in the rear view window. Rain - actual wet stuff! - is predicted to later tonight into tomorrow. Hooray!

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A young, male Mountain Lion with a tracking collar was caught on camera walking along a path on The Sea Ranch on March 7th. Bob Van Syoc wrote, “I saw this young lion strolling by our garage. It was very relaxed with some sort of collar.”

This particular Mountain Lion, P14 or "Paul", was collared by Dr. Quinton Martins and the Living with Lions team in early January. Martins and his team are part of Audubon Canyon Ranch, a non-profit environmental organization. When the news of Bob’s sighting reached Dr. Martins, he rushed up the coast on Friday, as he had lost contact on Jan. 21 with P14’s tracking collar.

A cadre of coast residents helped him over the next three days finally track Paul. Dr. Martins was able to get a GPS download of this cougar’s movements, which showed he had traveled nearly 200 miles since January 7th. You can follow this story at www.egret.org.

Then on March 21st, Mitch Sugarman's motion detection camera videoed Paul at the top of Sunset Drive in Anchor Bay. You can watch the two videos below. Thanks to Bob and Mitch for allowing me to share the photo and videos with you here.

Paul is seen March 21, the collared mountain lion by Mitch Sugarman

Paul, the collared mountain lion by Mitch Sugarman

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Marilyn Green noticed Jellyfish washed up on the beach on Saturday. She wrote, “There were at least 50 on Pebble Beach on The Sea Ranch. Some were in the water and looked healthy to me!” I sent Marilyn’s photo to Robert Van Syoc and he identified it as a Moon Jelly, Aurelia aurita. Marilyn’s photo shows the four pink reproductive glands.

These Jellyfish are capable of very little motion and are dependent on where the tides take them. For the 50 or so on the beach, the tides took them the wrong way.

This third photo shows a Moon Jellyfish safe in the water.

Thanks to Marilyn for allowing me to share her photos with you here.