The Tide Is Out

Tidepooling, Put Simply

I was recently asked to explain tidepooling in a simple way, and I realized that I have never posted an easy-to-understand definition, so let’s get into it.

In practice, tidepooling is looking for marine life on the beach, but it’s so much more than that. Let’s break down the word tidepooling into its parts: tide, pool, and -ing, and learn about them one at a time. We’ll start by understanding the first part: tides.

What are tides?

Tides are long-period ocean waves that cause the water on our coasts to rise and fall. Tides are caused by celestial objects and a variety of other forces, but you don’t need to know how they work to see their effects. See this article for more information about tides.

What is a tide pool?

Now that we know what tides are, we can add the next part of the word: pool. When the tide goes out (is low), more of the beach is exposed to the air than when the tide is high. Tide pools are pools of seawater that are trapped between rocks or sand when the tide goes out. Any amount of seawater cut off from the ocean at low tide is a tide pool, from the tiniest of puddles to basins as large as a swimming pool.

More broadly, the term tide pools can also refer to the intertidal zone, the area of coast exposed to air at low tide but covered with water at high tide. Intertidal means between the tides; it often has pools, but it also has animals growing on rocks or sand exposed to air. Thus, someone might say, “I’m going to the tide pools,” and mean they are going to visit the intertidal zone on a particular coastline.

What is tidepooling?

Let’s add the final part of the word, the ending -ing, which indicates an action. Tidepooling is the activity of going to the coast and looking for plants and animals in the intertidal zone or the tide pools. You can think of it as looking at marine life from the shore and from above the water. A great variety of organisms live in this harsh area that is sometimes sea, sometimes land. The space provides a fascinating oppurtunity to explore marine animals without swimming.

When and where can I tidepool?

You can tidepool on any accessible coastline at any time, but you will see more animals if you visit during low tide, when more of the beach is available to explore. Rocky shores that have actual pools are the easiest to explore, but you can also look for marine life on sandy beaches and mud flats in estuaries.

What will I see?

What kinds of plants and animals you will see in the intertidal depends heavily on where you are. Any marine animals can wash up on the shore, but certain ones make their homes in the intertidal and are seen more often. Crabs, snails, sea stars, urchins, anemones, fish, worms, clams, and many others can all be frequently seen from the shore.

If you’ve never been tidepooling before, give it a try next time you’re on the beach. Take a look around you on the sand or in the rocks for plants and animals that make their homes there; you never know what you might find.