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Jan 2009 Runoff Newsletter Photo Spotlight
Photos by Rhoda Green
Invasive tunicates are a major problem on floating docks in the Dockton Harbor off of Vashon Island. Tunicates, commonly known as sea squirts, are invertebrates with a simple, sack-like body with two siphons through which water enters and exits for filtration. Avid steward and diver Rhoda Green has been working closely with WA Scuba Alliance and WA Fish and Wildlife to lead sections of removal for the health of our Puget Sound native species. Part of the project entails providing an opportunity for the public to see what marine life live under a floating dock, and that it is a truly unique ecosystem. Animals removed with the tunicates are disentangled and placed in tubs for a few hours to serve as interpretive snapshots of the life below, before carefully being returned.
Though the first effort took divers an entire day, less than 10% of the tunicates were actually removed; there is clearly a need for more efforts like Rhoda’s. The tunicates are the yellow, spongy looking growths in the photos that out-compete native species.
Feather duster worms trying to survive the invasion
Hydroid peeking through tunicate growth
Piling overgrown with tunicates
Seastars and barnacles competing with tunicates
Tunicate growth close up
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