hello everyone welcome back to exploring the coast with hannah i'm out here on the coast in monterey bay and i'm going to teach you about the four zones of the rocky inner title so the first zone is the splash zone then we have the high zone followed by the mid zone and last but not least the lozo so we're gonna take a closer look at each of those zones talking about the different types of algal and invertebrate species that you might find here and a little bit about why these zones are important when we are studying the rocky intertidal habitats all right you ready to go come on with me so looking at the different zones of the rocky intertidal i'm going to pan the camera to show you each zone and then we'll zoom back into each zone to talk about uh what things live in those zones and how the tides are affected in that area so this first one is the splash zone air so this is where most of the bare rock is and then we're panning down and we're getting more into the high zone area so less bare rock more things that are covering it so like we have scouring pad alga and mussels and i can see some titans and other things like that barnacles and then we're going to pan down and so for most of this part right here this is the midzone area the midzone is usually dominated by mussels this is their prime habitat you can see a couple of areas where there are bare but for the most part these are the muscle beds so that's always a good indicator of the midzone area and then as we pan down you can see that beautiful green stuff so that's actually surf grass and surf grass are actually plants they're not out algae they actually are flowering but they are only found in the flow zone area and what they call surface beds and then as you plan out more now we're getting into the actual tide pools and so here we have the splash zone area so mostly bare rock so only the highest tides mostly storm tides would ever be able to reach this uh where they kind of splash and crash over there's not much um settling on this so we don't see many uh species so any snails or titans barnacles any of that splash zone areas are common areas for birds to kind of haul out hang out get some rest in between heating and hunting and also using splash zone areas for nesting grounds as well and so then we're going to kind of pan down and we're getting more into the high zone area so this is the area where only the highest of the tides of the day come up to okay so this is an area where the species that live in the high zone area are highly adapted to be able to be exposed to the elements when they are not covered by water so sometimes they can be out of water exposed to the sun exposed to the air for you know six hours or so depending on um the weather that day and but you can see here we have a really common high zone algo species and so this is called scouring pad alga so it's an indicator that you're in the high zone area that's where they mostly dominate so they're well adapted to be exposed to the elements for long periods of time we also have a bunch of lipids here you can see sorry a little out of focus we also have lipids and other things that can be here barnacles and then we're starting to get down from this high zone area uh to the midzone area so now we're starting to get into all the muscle beds so they are constantly uh being smacked by waves during the day that are coming up whether they're coming up during the high tide or whether they're coming down during the low tide so they're constantly having to deal with the waves in the water pounding against them they're also exposed to the elements for very long amounts of time during the tidal cycle so a lot of these mid zones we see so like right here we're looking at the california muscle they are shelled organisms so they have the shells here that allow them to keep the them from desiccating and to be able to hold hold in that that water and also are able to um go without a lot of oxygen for long amounts of time and then once they are back in the water then these guys will actually open up and and start filter eating okay and so we also have some like turban snails that's a common midzone we have you can see here these are pink acorn barnacles they look like little volcanoes very common ones here we've got some limpets uh somewhere underneath here there's probably some shore crabs they like to inhabit the midzone area as well sea stars like to be in the mid zone area i don't see them right now and some of the little tide pools their main food source are mussels but those are very common mid-stone species again highly adapted uh to live in a really stressful environment and having really cool adaptations which we're going to talk about next week and seeing how they're able to survive with all of these stressors you can see here also sometimes in these little tide pools in the mid zone area you can see purple sea urchins you can also see these lovely giant green anemones as well so they're a common midzone and low zone species and some sunbursts as well all right so moving down from the midzone area we're gonna get down into the surf grass bed so they inhabit the low zone area right they're only found in the low zone area they actually provide a lot of habitat for a lot of different species so it kind of just looks like grass like the grass that you cut um on your lawn here and we also have some other algal species that you find in the low zone area so this is the area that isn't exposed to the elements as long as the the other zones that i just described so these guys cannot stay out exposed to the elements as long as other ones uh so you have some other common lozone uh mid to low zone ago species so this is iridescent algae this stuff if it's wet it's super slippery so if you're ever out tie pulling be aware not to step on this um but the really cool tip i have to teach them for this one is they they're rubber like so if you try to pull on them they just snap back like a rubber band we also have some coral line algae here as well we have rock weeds rock weeds are a common mid to low zone species you can also find these guys up in the high zone area so these guys are a little bit more adaptable can be in different zones and um down here we actually even have if you can see a beautiful sunburst anemone and then of course as you go further out then you are in the tide pool or subtitle area so this is the air of the rocky intertidal that is always covered by water now that you know the zones of the rocky entertainer you can see why they're so important for scientists to study because they are very defined areas that have specific species that live within the different zones it's a great way for scientists to be able to track the health of these ecosystems and changes that are occurring within them over time i hope you guys had a lot of fun today learning about the zones i know i did be sure to check every tuesday on the museum website for another video of exploring the coast with hannah have a great day everyone