About a few of our Mudflat Inhabitants

Thanks to Angela Danyluk (biologist, City of Vancouver) for this research:


Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias fannini)
- At-risk in Canada
-Roosts in colonies like the one found in Stanley Park

Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
-Shorebirds
-They are the ones that feed on biofilm
-https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Sandpiper/

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous)
-These are charismatic little shorebirds that if you approach the adults and are close to their nest they will fake a broken wing and try to lure you away from the nest.
-https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Killdeer

American Widgeon (Mareca Americana)
-Dabbling duck found along the shoreline
-https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Wigeon/

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)
-Dabbling duck that nests in old, dead tree trunks
-Like ponds, shady slow rivers and wooded swamps
-https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/wood_duck

Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
-While you can find it in forests you can also find this hawk in and around coastal wetlands

- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
-Found in sea coasts, agricultural fields, tidal flats and cities
-Likes tall structures, near water for nesting
-https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Peregrine_Falcon

Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina)
-Species description https://www.centralcoastbiodiversity.org/harbour-seal-bull-phoca-vitulina.html
-Great story on current populations https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/are-there-too-many-harbor-seals-in-british-columbia/

Sea Otters (Enhydra lutris)
-Pre-contact sea otters may have been found in and around False Creek (source: https://www.seaotters.com/sea-otter-natural-history/)
-Another resource that tells the story of sea otters re-introduction to BC and Alaska https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/mammals-mammiferes/seaotter-loutremer/index-eng.html
-https://species-registry.canada.ca/index-en.html#/species/149-132

River Otter (Lutra Canadensi)
-We currently have these weasels living in and around Vancouver.
-They live in coastal marshes as well as lakes
-https://sierraclub.bc.ca/river-otter/

 Olympia Oyster (Ostrea conchaphila)
-There is only one oyster that is native to the west coast and it is this one.
-This oyster is now at risk in Canada
-https://olympiaoysternet.ucdavis.edu/about-olympias

Marine creatures commonly found in eelgrass, mudflat systems in the Salish Sea

 Moonglow Anemone (Anthopleura artemisia)
-Anchored to rocks in sandy sites along open coast and in tidepools; mid intertidal zone
-Algae lives in its tentacles and sometimes it lives in the holes dug by clams

Giant Clam Bed Worm (Alitta brandti)
-Buried in mud or sand bars and in eelgrass beds, low intertidal to subtidal
-Color varies from dark iridescent greenish – blue to reddish brown
-Extremely large segmented worm with leaf-like dorsal lobs, numerous toothlike projections on the proboscis

Shield Limpet (Lottia pelta), eelgrass form
-The shield limpet takes many forms and has an eelgrass form; it’s exterior shell is light brown to dark brown with radial or checkerboard white pattern
-Only found on eelgrass in protected waters; low intertidal zone to shallow subtidal depths

Lewis’s Moon Snail (Neverita lewisii)
-Really cool creamy white large marine snail. It’s the largest living moon snail in the world.
-Lives in sand and mud, low intertidal zone to depths of 91 m
-It’s well known of being an “active carnivore” that plows through the sand to prey upon clams and other bivalves by drilling a hole in the shell of its prey. It also makes a distinctive egg case or “sand collar”.

Pacific Gaper (Tresus nuttallii)
-Other names – big-neck clam, pacific horse clam, horse clam
-Found in the mud of protected bays in mid-intertidal zone to depths of 80 m
-It can spurt jets of water up to 1 m!

Pacific littleneck (Leukoma staminea)
-Other names – common pacific littleneck, rock cockle
-Found in san-mud or gravel of protected bays in the mid intertidal to 40 m
-Common to harvest the pacific littleneck.

Eelgrass Isopod (Pentidotea resecata)
-Found on eelgrass and brown algae at the low intertidal zone
-Can be green or yellow brown
-It’s an arthropod so in the same phylum as barnacles, shrimps and crabs!

Dungeness Crab (Cancer magister)
-One of the most prized food crabs! This crab has a reddish –brown to purplish carapace (shell).
-Found on sand or muddy sand in the mid intertidal to depths of 230 m
-This species is known to live about 6 years and is an active carnivore that feeds on at least 40 different species including shrimp, small clams, oysters, worms and fish.
-It spends a lot of time buried in the sand.

 Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides)
-This is a really special sea star. I grew up knowing them well and seeing them often in the Gulf Islands. In 2013, along the west coast, a disease swept through the west coast and killed off most sea star species. It is called the “sea star wasting disease” and is one of the largest species die off in history. Most sea star species are making a comeback. The sunflower star is not and in 2020 was declared endangered. It’s a first for sea stars and not many people know about this amazing creature or its fate. The disease is likely a common virus that has done more damage because of climate change. Here’s a link to more info;  https://themarinedetective.com/category/marine-invertebrates/sea-stars/sea-star-wasting-disease/
-This sea star is known as a “cheetah” of the invertebrate world! It can move really fast when catching prey…for a sea star  It wins the title of fastest sea star in the world!
-It lives on rock, sand, mud, gravel and in tidepools in the low intertidal zone to depths of 435 m.
-It eats clams, dead animals, crustaceans and sea urchins. It plays an important role in managing sea urchin populations which promotes the growth and establishment of kelp forests (which supports biodiverse nearshore ecosystems).

Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii)
-There is a campaign right now to stop commercial fishing of these “big little fish”. Populations are crashing and they are important food for orcas, humpbacks, dolphins, seals, sea lions, birds and fish.
-Herring and herring roe are very central to many coastal Indigenous cultures and food security.
- There is a small population of herring that spawn regularly in False Creek. This is rare and special. I’ve seen them spawn and watched anchovies and seals come in during the spawn!
-They spawn in Feb and March which means spring is coming.
-These fish spawn on various algae and eelgrass

Bay Pipefish (Sygnathus leptorhynchus)
-These neat long tube like fish can be found in eelgrass bed systems
-It’s a stretched out version of a seahorse! Males carry the fertilize eggs and they have a head/snout like a seahorse.

Starry Flounder (Platichthys stellatus)
-Beautiful flat fish found in eelgrass and mudflat systems.
-At a larval stage the flounder is symmetrical but as it grows older the fish’s skull twists and one of its eyes migrates to the other side of its body!

 Biofilm - diatoms
- Found in Roberts Bank, a mudflat and eelgrass ecosystem, biofilm is a slimy concoction of diatoms and other bacteria. It is a very important food for migratory western sandpipers.
-There could have been biofilm in at False Creek pre-contact. We don’t know. There are for sure diatoms.
-Diatoms are single celled algae that convert the suns energy into sugars. They, like other phytoplankton, are the basis of life in the ocean and on earth.
-They are made of silica.
-Diatoms are a major group of photosynthetic micro-algae living in marine and freshwater environments, which provide vast quantities of oxygen, food and nutrients for a wide range of organisms.
-Here are some resources:
o   https://diatoms.org/what-are-diatoms
o   https://www.edmondsunderwaterpark.com/blog/phytoplankton-salish-sea-the-emerald-sea

Here are some plants that one does find in marine mudflat/marsh systems; they could have been here, in False Creek, before it was filled in

Pickleweed aka glasswort, saltwort etc. - (Salicornia depressa)
- Found in high intertidal, rich in oils
- Short, stubby, segmented tubular plant

Cow Parsnip - (Heracleum lanatum)
- Found along streambanks, upper beaches, marshes, avalanche areas and subalpine
-Mid-sized plant with an umbrella like flower and really interestingly shaped leaves
-Young cow parsnip was/is known as “Indian celery”
-Mature plants have chemicals in leaves and stem sap that when broken and exposed to skin + light can cause moderate rashes and burns

 Oceanspray – (Holodiscus discolor)
-Found in upper banks that are dry to moist open sites
-Known as “ironwood” because it is strong; used for digging sticks and in place of nails; flowers can be boiled to make tea to manage diarrhea in children

Lyngby’s Sedge – (Carex lyngbyei)
-Found in tidal marshes, estuarine meadows; so you would have seen this at the water line
-Pioneer species in tidal mud flats
 Important spring food for young trumpeter swans and other geese flying on their spring migration as the young sedge contains 25% protein; grizzly bears also like them!

Tule – (Scirpus lacustris)
-This is the really tall sedge
-Found in marshes, muddy shores, in fresh/brackish waters; so this could have been found in the uplands of the False Creek wetlands where fresh water met salt water
-Utilized heavily for baskets, mats, covers and so much more

Nootka Rose – (Rosa nutkana )
- Super fragrant pink rose that can be found in a range of open habitats like shorelines, meadows etc.
-These have been planted along the shoreline bike/ped path west of the Olympic Village. They weren’t originally used in civic plantings b/c they grow “messily” aka don’t conform to straight lines ;) 
-Well used by Indigenous peoples for a range of purposes
Rosehips provide important winter food for birds

Douglas’ Aster – Aster subspicatus
-Beautiful purple to blue flower found in upper benches of salt marshes; flowers in the fall

Salt marshes are typically found upland of mudflats in this region. Others plants include pacific crab apple, hardhack (tall pink fuzzy plant) and many more!