Beach-Combing Emerald Isle and Topsail Island, NC
(Note: As always, click image for better versions - these are heavily compressed)
Emerald Isle, NC
Last weekend we had a short but nice going away get-away with some friends (psychology graduate students, a parole officer, and a lawyer/rockstar) in Emerald Isle, North Carolina.
My dorky goal was to find more fossilized shark teeth (see previous awesome finds here), in addition to the obvious general goal of having a salty time.
Unfortunately, a storm kept most of the cool ocean debris from washing ashore until Sunday morning. Nevertheless, I found quite a few interesting things.
First off: fossil shark teeth!
Fossil Shark Teeth
The Haul:
The Haul 1
The Haul 2
The Haul 3
Skate Egg Case:
Skate Egg Case
Unknown wicked fish jaw:
wicked fish jaw
Shell Fossils in matrix:
Shell Fossil Cast in matrix
Shell Fossil Cast in matrix
A cool fossil of what I think is a bryozoan.
Fossil Bryozoan
I found a nice piece of fossilized bone. Of what? Who knows? Probably whale or dolphin. Or perhaps mermaid.
Fossil Bone
I also found several chunks of what I believe is either anthracite coal, or the next metamorphic step - graphite (I'm no geologist - thoughts?). It's very light weight, very hard, and very faceted - which doesn't come across very well in still shots:
Anthracite Coal?
Anthracite Coal?
One of the coolest things I found is a relation to organisms I will soon be working with in my new lab: starfish!!
I found two of these, both beautifully colored and still alive. They were washed ashore by the storm, so I tossed em back. I have no idea the likelihood of their survival, but I can say they didn't wash back ashore over the next two days. (I'm awaiting the expertise of Christopher Mah of the Echinoblog for species identification).
Update: it's a Royal Sea Star, Astropecten articulatus. Quoth the EchinoMaster: "Basically..they are your stereotypical "sand star" predatory on infaunal bivalves and pretty common on sandy-muddy bottoms of the Northeast US. Attractively colored animals to be sure!" Thanks Chris!
Starfish
Check out those details!
Tube Feet Alive!!
We also got to hit the NC Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores. It's a pretty rad place, so I was way more interested in pointing my eyes at all the ocean wonders, rather than pointing a camera. But I did get this cool shot of a gator.
Gator
Ooh - and apparently someone else took a shot of us there - me and John playing with the rays (the ray touch tank was by far the coolest part!).
Petting the stingrays
Topsail Island, NC
A month ago, we also had the opportunity to hit Topsail Island, NC.
Fun was had. Things were seen.
Shark Teeth (Yes - I showed these before).
Great colors!
Ocean smoothed - but still pretty wicked
Mole Crabs (Emerita sp.)
Mole Crab (Emerita sp.)
Ghost Crab (Ocypode sp.)
Ghost Crab (Ocypode sp.)
And that's it - images are all I have for you at the moment. Enjoy.
I swear, I will have slightly more posts once I get moved to Pittsburgh and settled.
And just because I never show her (she's camera shy), I'm sneaking in this shot of my wife:
Three Psychologists
Panties Man
Yes this one is in fact a true story (despite my previous fictional bus story). I’m not clever enough to make this up.
So I’m taking the bus home to my car yesterday. The bus stops where I get off and I’m the only one to exit. As I’m walking toward the rear of the bus I notice a man crouching at the bumper of the momentarily stopped bus. He sees me and quickly gets up and starts walking towards me with a strange grin on his face.
“That’s the second bus I’ve tagged today,” he says.
I do not understand him. The guy looks to be in his forties and seems to be dressed as one of the many homeless people around Chapel Hill. Also his front teeth are rotting.
“Yep,” he continues “I got 2 cop cars and an ambulance earlier today. But it’s always funniest on a cop car.”
Still not understanding I give him a quizzical look. He nods his head toward the bus, which is now moving away. I look back and there emblazoned on the bus’ bumper lies a bumper sticker reading “I Heart Panties”. I of course start laughing near-maniacally. This makes the man’s smile widen from ear to ear exposing his brown and broken incisors.
We cross the road between traffic just as a cop car is pulling up to a stop sign at the small intersection across from us. I cannot believe the luck. “Watch this” he says nonchalantly. He makes to cross the street behind the cop car and “stumbles” part way to the ground with perfect timing as he swipes a sticker out of his pocket onto the cop’s bumper just as the copper begins to pull away. I just watch amazed at the site of the police car pulling away proclaiming that “I Heart Panties” to every person behind him.
“Wow, man!” says I. “You were totally right. It is much funnier on a cop car.” He just smiles and nods and we part ways.
So somewhere around Chapel Hill there is an aging man bringing a small bit of humor to our streets with such a simple, even silly, little sticker. What drives him to do this? Based on his response to my laughter I think it’s simply imagining people’s reaction when they see his sticker that makes this man do what he does. Therefore, I salute you Panties Man. With so much bullshit in the world, it’s nice to know that there is at least one man who works all day just to bring a few momentary smiles to our roadways.