South Puget Sound
Thurston Co., WA
Site Description:
The southern end of Puget Sound is a series of inlets and fingers of land stretching out into the Sound. The habitat is very similar throughout. While there are a few rockier areas, the beaches are primarily sand, gravel and mud. River drainage at the tips of the inlets provide a lot of silt deposition which creates large mud flats at the ends of the inlets. The beaches along the inlets provide excellent bivalve habitat. The gastropod populations are much less diverse here. Our western site for this area is in Totten Inlet and is a sand/mud beach which is a commercial shellfish farm. Our central location combines two sites which are near each other. Burfoot County park is at the north end of Budd Inlet. Just to the east around the peninsula of land is Big Fishtrap Cove. The beach at this site which faces Dana Passage is more sand and light gravel, which is similar habitat to Burfoot park. As you enter the cove, the habitat becomes very muddy. Our eastern location is along Nisqually Reach, covering various beaches from the Nisqually River to Tolmie State Park. As with the other beaches, it ranges from mud to silty sand.Google Map
Big
Fishtrap Cove
Burfoot County Park
east side of Totten Inlet
Species List:
Following is a list of mollusk species observed at this location by members and associates of the club. This is by no means a complete list of the species which may occur at this site. Revisions and additions to the data are made as we acquire new information. When a site contains more than one very distinctive type of habitat or if multiple sites were included in a single location, then a species list for each is included.
We indicate frequency of occurrence based on our observations. This is an indicator of how likely it is that you may be able to find this species yourself and is not a formal population survey.
Frequency Code: (Based on the assumption that you are looking in the appropriate location where the species
likes to live - on rocks, in sand, etc. Some populations fluctuate seasonally. Ours are based
on the spring/summer seasons.)
[4] - Rare - very difficult to find, maybe only a couple found after repeated visits to the site
[3] - Uncommon - difficult to find, may not see on every trip but dedicated searching may turn up a few
[2] - Common - easy to find, should locate a number of them on any given day
[1] - Abundant - very easy to find, large numbers should be seen on every trip
Data is all intertidal unless noted.