Salish Sea Activity Book

Salish Sea

The Salish Sea is the traditional name for the inland waters of Canada and Washington State. It stretches from Puget Sound to Johnstone Strait. This name has been used by the First Nations peoples who have lived in this area for a very long time, and still do today.

The Salish Sea includes the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound, and many islands, both large and small. It has sandy beaches, eelgrass meadows, and wide stretches of open water. Each of these places is a different habitat (a place where certain plants and animals live) with its own plants and animals.

About ten thousand years ago, huge rivers of ice called glaciers flowed through the Strait of Georgia from ice fields in the north. When this river of ice reached the Olympic Mountains, it split into two parts. One part flowed into the Puget Sound area, and the other flowed down the Strait of Georgia. These glaciers carved deep into the land. When the glaciers melted and pulled back, they left behind gravel, sand, clay, and a mix of rocky material called till.

The Salish Sea is a very rich habitat, full of living things. This is because rivers carry nutrients (natural food for plants and animals) into the ocean. Cold water full of nutrients also rises up from the deep ocean to the surface, a process called upwelling. Together, these bring lots of food into the sea.

Sadly, the Salish Sea is losing some of its rich variety of sea life. This is happening especially in busy areas where many people live or visit.

The Geoduck (say it "gooey-duck") is the largest kind of clam. It's too big for its own shell, so it can't close its shell tightly like other clams. To stay safe, it buries itself about three feet deep in the sand. It has a long neck called a siphon with two tubes in it. To eat, the geoduck stretches its neck up to the top of the sand. It draws in water full of food through one tube and pushes waste out through the other.

Sea Stars (sometimes called starfish) come in more kinds along the northwest coast than anywhere else in the world. You can often find them holding tightly onto the sides of large rocks or open ledges. Most sea stars have five arms, but some have more. The Sunflower Sea Star may have twenty arms or even more! If a sea star loses an arm, a new one will grow back in its place.

Sea Anemones usually cling tightly to rocks using a suction disk. When they do move, it can take hours just to travel one inch! You can find them in tidepools, and they can grow to be 1 to 12 inches across. Like jellyfish, sea anemones have stinging cells called nematocysts in their tentacles. They use these stingers to freeze small crabs or fish in place. Then they bring the food to their mouth, which sits in the middle of their tentacles.

Pacific Harbor Seals are the marine mammal you're most likely to see in the Salish Sea. They are called "true seals" because they don't have ear flaps you can see, and they can't tuck their back flippers under their bodies to walk. You'll often spot them resting on rocks during low tide. Harbor seals can dive as deep as 1,380 feet and can hold their breath underwater for up to 28 minutes!

In the Salish Sea, Orcas, also called Killer Whales, live in three different lifestyles: resident, transient, and offshore. Adult male orcas have a tall, straight fin on their back (called a dorsal fin) that can grow up to 5 feet tall. Adult female orcas have smaller, triangle-shaped dorsal fins, only 3 to 4 feet tall.

Sea Urchins have round bodies covered in spines, so they look more like pincushions than animals. They use their spines to "walk," almost like walking on stilts. Purple sea urchins live on rocks where ocean waves crash, while green sea urchins prefer quieter tidepools. Urchins eat algae, seaweed, and plankton (tiny plants that float in the water).

The Giant Pacific Octopus is the largest kind of octopus in the world. It can weigh up to 600 pounds and stretch its arms out over 31 feet wide!

Spiny Dogfish are the shark you're most likely to see in the Salish Sea. They grow up to 5 feet long and are usually seen near the water's surface at dawn or dusk. They aren't dangerous to people, but watch out for the sharp spine on their back — that's how they got their name — if you ever catch one!

Hermit Crabs don't have shells of their own. Instead, they use the empty shells of other animals as their homes. As a hermit crab grows, it has to find and move into a bigger shell.

Halibut can grow so large that when sailors bring them onto boats, the fish have thrashed their tails hard enough to hurt or even kill people! Female halibut can grow to almost 500 pounds and nearly nine feet long. Males are usually about half that length and weigh under 100 pounds. Most halibut that are caught are still young, weighing only around 35 pounds.

Sea Otters live in kelp forests (underwater forests made of a type of large seaweed). They often wrap themselves in kelp fronds so they don't drift away while sleeping. Otters eat abalones, crabs, urchins, sea stars, snails, and other shellfish. To crack open hard shells, otters lie on their backs, place a rock on their chest, and pound the shell against it. Sea otters help keep kelp forests healthy by eating sea urchins, which would otherwise eat too much of the kelp.

Tufted Puffins mostly eat fish that are 6 to 8 inches long. Puffins dive underwater and chase fish, using their wings like paddles to "fly" through the water. They can carry up to 6 fish in their beak at once, crosswise! How do they do it? The puffin holds the first fish between its rough tongue and upper beak. This leaves the lower part of its beak free to catch more fish — even fish on the other side of its beak at the same time!

Did you know that salmon must return to the very same spot in the very same river where they were born?

The beaches, rocky shores, marshes, and open ocean are homes to many different plants and animals. Please be respectful and don't disturb their homes. Take your trash with you when you leave — just leave your footprints behind.