"Tide pools contain mysterious worlds, where all the beauty of the sea is subtly suggested and portrayed in miniature."

- Rachel Carson

Wanderers, swimmers, crawlers; snatchers, suckers, scrapers; hitchhikers, hangers-on, and hiders-tide pools support an amazing diversity of plants and animals.

From the Arctic to Chesapeake Bay on the Atlantic coast and from Alaska to Mexico on the Pacific, North America is home to countless tide pools. This land-sea habitat is sustained and nourished by clean air and pure ocean waters.

If we are willing to solve the threats of coastal development and ocean pollution that endanger tide-poolcommunities, this narrow ribbon of wilderness might remain undisturbed for generations to come.

Abdomen
The hind end of a crustacean, containing the digestive and reproductive organs.
Camouflage
Something that hides an animal by changing how it looks
Carapace
A hard, protective outer shell
Carnivore
An animal that eats other animals
Crustacean
An aquatic animal with a hard outer shell and a three-part body - head, thorax, and abdomen (shrimp, crab, lobster, and barnacle)
Echinoderm
A spiny-skinned animal (starfish and sea urchin)
Eyestalk
A moveable column with an eye at the tip
Gastropod
A type of mollusk, usually - but not always - with a distinct head and a spiral shell
Gland
An organ that produces a liquid
Invertebrate
An animal with no backbone
Mollusc
A soft-bodied invertebrate, usually enclosed in a hard shell
Regeneration
Regrowing lost or destroyed parts of the body
Siphon
A tube through which an animal sucks in or pushes out water
Tentacle
A flexible limb that sticks out near an animal's head, usually used to feel
Thorax
The middle section of the body of a crustacean, located between the head and the abdomen

"Hairy Doris

Hello, my name is Doris. I'm a shell-less gastropod, but you can call me "sea slug," if gastropod sounds odd."

(a taste of Hairy Doris in Ocean Soup)

Sexton, Colleen. Tide Pools.
Blastoff! Readers. New York: Children's Press, 2008.

Silverstein, Alvin and Virginia B. Life in a Tidal Pool.
Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005.

Wright, Alexandra. At Home in the Tide Pool.
Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 1992.

Bredeson, Carmen. Tide Pools.
First Books. New York: Franklin Watts, 1999.

Brenner, Barbara. One Small Place by the Sea.
New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Life on the Rocky Shore
Learn about tide-pool animals, intertidal zones, and safety tips for visiting a tide pool.
Monterey Bay Aquarium: Tide Pool Video
See a video of a coastal tide pool at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and use the tide-pool spotting guide to help identify animals in the video. Includes a downloadable tide-pool etiquette guide.
Secrets of the Tide Pools
Learn about tide pools of the Pacific coastline. Includes an explanation of the three intertidal zones and the animals and plants that live within each zone.
Habitats - Tidepool
Read about the climate, habitat, and residents of the Pacific Northwest's tide-pool regions. Includes guidelines for visiting a tide pool.
Buy the Ocean Soup Tide Pool Poems book