Coastal Bivalve Consumption

Last weekend we went to the beach to spend some time with friends and take advantage of the negative tides.

Fellow forager Jere and I dug razor clams at Clatsop Beach on the north coast.

We used Jere's clam guns to pull up plugs of sand beneath "shows"- quarter-sized dimples in the sand that indicate the presence of razor clams. Look closely and you can see one above.


Like the hundreds of fellow diggers out there, we quickly bagged our limit of 15 each.

We returned to Pacific city and spent the rest of the day processing our catch.


We breaded and fried the surprisingly large clams and enjoyed a great dinner. This is the second year in a row that we have had a spring clam fry at Pacific City and we hope for many more to come.

The next day, we tidepooled during the low tide.

Like us, ochre sea stars were busy consuming bivalves.

Despite this relentless predation, the California mussels at Cape Kiawanda are quite abundant and very large. It does not look like the sea stars will be going hungry any time soon.