Silver Sands State Park, CT

I woke up this morning and crawled languidly out of bed. I flipped up the shade of my window to let some light in for my beloved little plant. I noticed the bright sun outside and thought "ah, what a perfect day for the beach," except it was 30 degrees outside and the ground was covered with snow. But off I went anyway.

I decided to visit Silver Sands State Park which is in Milford, CT. It is not the greatest beach in the summer months. A bit dirty. But today, with a blanket of snow, it was absolutely beautiful.

Rules of the beach


From the beach you can see Charles Island which is connected to the mainland by a sand bar that is submerged at high tide. Apparently someone named Captain Kidd buried a treasure there in 1699. He was a sailor of Scottish origin who turned pirate and was subsequently executed in 1701.

Snow-covered Beach and Charles Island


A man who passed by told me that loons nest in this area in the summer, so I will have to come back later in the year.

Today I was in a little bit of a seaweed mood. So here are a few pictures. The first is a green sponge-like species that I have seen before. It seems to prefer to cling to slipper shells. It looks like it belongs to the genus Codium but it doesn't quite fit the sketch in my seaweed guide or shore guide. The problem is that both guides show a bifurcating branching pattern, but the bulk of bifurcations seem to occur near the tips in the book but closer to the base in my picture. Another problem is that it seems to look most like Codium isthmocladum, but this species is only found in warmer waters in the southern US. Codium fragile is the only coldwater species of this genus, so I guess this is what I found. Apparently this species recently came to the North Atlantic coast and was first spotted in 1957 on Long Island. Since then it has spread widely in the Northeast. Apparently they are a big threat to the shellfish to which they attach. The algae accumulate oxygen interstitially and then become buoyant, pulling the shellfish out of the beds and causing them to be taken away by the current. This has landed them the appellation "oyster thief." Supposedly this species comes from the coasts of Japan (which makes sense since they eat this and probably transport it for food). I read that this plant is coenocytic, which means that nuclei can divide many times without cell divisions. I must remember to take a specimen next time and check it out under the microscope.

Codium fragile
Family: Codacea
Order: Bryopsidales
Division: Chlorophyta (one of the two divisions of green algae)


The next species is clearly a member of the genus Fucus. This is part of the family Fucacea, in which some of the species are commonly called "Wracks." They are brown algae which are scientifically known as the class Phaeophyceae. Sargassum is also part of this grouping. Species of Fucus, along with the genus Ascophyllum, are also known as rockweeds because they are often found in intertidal areas. Fucus are easily recognizable because their holdfast is disc-shaped, like a suction cup, and very small. They have bifurcating branches with a distinct midrib, although sometimes not visible closer to the base. They have knobby receptacles (fruiting structures) on the ends of the main branches which are sometimes swollen or sometimes flattened. Color can be light brown to dark green.

The problem with Fucus is that it is sometimes difficult to tell species apart, particularly F. spiralis and F. vesiculosis because they have similar ranges. F. vesiculosis also has air bladders, but they can be absent sometimes. In this case, the two species are almost indistinguishable. According to photos this looks like F. vesiculosis, but I am not sure. The only way to tell is to open the receptacles. In. F. vesiculosis, individuals produce only male or female sex cells but in F. spiralis they produce both.

Fucus (Rockweed)
Family: Fucaceae


The final algae of the day was this pretty red specimen that looks somewhat bleached from light exposure. It looks clearly like black moss (aka irish moss) which is often harvested to extract the substance carrageenin which is heavily used as a commercial emulsifier and thickening agent. The color can range greatly from deep purple or almost black in deep water to yellow or pinkish-green in shallow water exposed to the sun. They branch in bifurcations, have a disc-shaped holdfast, and are often "crisped" at the tips.

Chondrus crispus
Phylum: Rhodophyta (Red Algae)


I just found out that the picture below is actually an egg-case from a Whelk or similar species of Mollusk. Apparently, each pouch of this chain houses smaller, offspring whelk which look somewhat similar to adults. Amazing!

Whelk Egg-Case


There is a long boardwalk which joins the beach to the road. From this view you can see the wetland habitat surrounding the beach. I saw my first and only bobolink here last summer. Even more important is that in these wetlands I saw my first red-winged black-bird. This was several years ago, and it was the first moment that I really became interested in nature. So I guess this beach holds a special place in my life.

Long boardwalk leading to the beach
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As I was walking back to my car I came across this paper birch. Less peeled paper birches are usually white with thin horizontal lines. But with considerable peeling, the red underside of the outer bark becomes exposed along with the yellowy inner bark.

Very Peeled Paper Birch


-SG