How One Puddle Can Hold an Entire Ocean World

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What if I told you an entire ocean
ecosystem can fit inside a puddle?

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Because every time the tide goes
out, that's exactly what happens.

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This is the How to Protect the Ocean
podcast, your weekday ocean news update.

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If you care about staying informed
on the oceans every weekday, hit that

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follow button right now on your favorite
podcast app so you don't miss tomorrow's

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interview with Kirstie Burnett, a
coworker of mine at Pisces Oceans.

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We're talking about how she grew
up in Nova Scotia on the Scotian

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Shores, enjoying cold waters, the
species, the habitats above and below.

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It's gonna be amazing.

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Check that out tomorrow.

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So hit that follow button
if you haven't already.

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Now, today, we're answering
a simple question.

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Why are tide pools one of the
best ways to experience the ocean?

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And the answer is pretty simple,
because they are like tiny windows

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into the entire marine ecosystem.

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When the tide goes out, seawater gets
trapped between rocks along the shoreline.

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When you first look at them, these
pools don't look very exciting.

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But they're one of my
favorite things to look at.

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It's a little water, maybe
some seaweed in there.

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You know, A few shells,
may have somebody, may not.

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Maybe they'll have a rock crab.

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But then you stop, and you look closer
because you're gonna start to see a

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lot of things moving around, little
invertebrates, maybe some small fish.

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Tiny fish start darting around the rocks.

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Snails crawl across the seaweed blades.

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Crabs hide under the algae.

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Small worms disappear into cracks pretty
quickly, but a whole community appears,

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and every tide pool is different.

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You may even get a starfish every
once in a while, and that's what

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makes them so much fun to explore.

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When you look at tide pools, you can
go from rock to rock and jump all over

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the place, and you have all these pools.

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And sometimes they scale up, and
sometimes they scale down, and you get

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to just put your rubber boots on and
you go from place to place to place.

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You can lift a rock.

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All of a sudden, there's a crab
there waiting to defend itself.

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It's a pretty cool place.

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It really is.

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In my interview tomorrow with Kirsti
Burnett, the marine biologist, she

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talked about growing up exploring
coastal habitats and learning to

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appreciate the wildlife hidden in
places a lot of people overlook.

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Like, tide pools are
perfect examples of that.

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The longer you look, the more you find.

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It's, a lot of times, like, if you're
a diver, wherever you are, whether

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you're in the tropics or whether
you're in temperate ecosystems,

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when you're a diver, you go, and
you'll see, like, the big things.

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If you see a dolphin or you see
a manatee or you see a shark,

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you'll see some big fish, maybe a
barracuda or something like that.

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It's pretty cool to see.

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Then you start to see all these,
like, community fish, right?

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All these schooling fish of tangs and
you know, you see the odd pufferfish.

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And then you'll see, like, a
parrotfish that's maybe munching

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on some algae, on some coral.

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And then you see all
these wonderful things.

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And then you start to really
look down even further, and you

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start to pay more attention.

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And you start to see the different
shrimp that are around and the

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different nematodes that are brightly
colored, but they're kinda camouflaged

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right in front of your face.

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And then you start seeing
little crabs that scurry around.

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Different-looking crabs too.

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Some look like shrimp.

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Some look like what you would
typically think as a crab.

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Right?

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And they're just all
different, different colors.

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Maybe some, like, decorator crabs
maybe have some things on it

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to kinda camouflage themselves.

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And then you might see some flatfish
that are hiding underneath the sand.

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Or you might even see, like, a stingray
or a skate, depending on where you are.

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There's just so many things that you
can see if you just actually just look.

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And a tide pool's the same way.

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If you just spend some time
looking around, you might find

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some things darting around.

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But sometimes it's just more of things
that take a while to get comfortable

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when you have this large human being.

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I was talking about myself.

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Everything's large for a human being,
like, as a human being for these crabs.

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Not to say anybody's large here.

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I'm a large guy.

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You- You see them and they
see, they see a large guy.

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That's what I mean.

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As they get comfortable knowing
that nothing's gonna hurt them,

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they start to come out more, and you
can start to see how they interact

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with each other and how they move.

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It's really cool.

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The longer you look, the more you find.

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I think that's really cool.

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But these aren't just interesting places.

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They're scientifically important, too.

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A 2023 study led by Carlos Vignieri
found that the tide pools increase

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the complexity of coastal food webs.

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So that means that little pools
aren't just leftovers from the tide.

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They're functioning ecosystems.

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They support interactions between species.

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They provide habitat.

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They help maintain biodiversity
along the shoreline.

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For something that looks like a
puddle, it's pretty impressive.

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Even if you think about
how the tide goes out.

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I lived in Nova Scotia for a couple years.

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They have the largest tides in
the world, 52 feet, I believe.

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It's 52 feet going back and forth.

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That's a lot of exposure.

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Sometimes these tide pools really come
in handy in preserving the lives of

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these species, because those that have
to live underwater or use submerged

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areas that can actually survive in
those areas until the tide comes back

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and they can actually escape, that's
a pretty impressive thing to do.

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And it's, it's just kind of a cool
thing that nature has provided

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us to witness again and again
twice a day with the lunar cycle.

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So, life inside a tide pool, it's
also surprisingly challenging.

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You know, even though it's, it may help
save some species, conditions can change

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dramatically over the course of a day.

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Water temperatures rise and fall.

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If it's a small puddle of water and
the sun is over it for a long time,

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It's not gonna take long to heat up.

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But if you're part of this larger
system, when the tide comes

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back in, that will change.

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Also, the water levels change, right?

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It could evaporate.

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Salinity changes.

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Wave exposure, there's some changes there.

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Yet these animals that
live there can handle it.

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They're a little hardier.

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They do it every single day.

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That makes them some of the toughest
little creatures in the ocean.

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And I think that's important.

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Because when you start to see how tough
these animals are, you really start to

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see how hardy they have to be to survive.

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How they have to search out habitats.

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They have to search out what they need
to survive, just like you're searching

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out information to help protect the
ocean, to help with your survival.

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And that's what you do each and
every day when you tune in to the

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How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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So if you are getting value and
you continue to get value and you

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haven't hit that follow button,
hit that follow button right now so

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you don't miss tomorrow's episode
and you continue to get that value.

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Now, one of the biggest lessons tide pools
teach us has nothing to do with science.

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It has to do with our attention.

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Kirsti, in tomorrow's interview,
talks about how some of the most

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exciting discoveries, especially in
these tide pools, happen when you

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slow down and you stay still long
enough to observe what's around you.

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If you're making noise and you're
erratic and you're moving all

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over the place, these animals
are not gonna show themselves.

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They're gonna stay hidden
because they're worried.

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They see the shadows, they feel
the movements in the water.

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But tide pools reward that kind of mindset
where you're just kinda just chilling out.

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I think that's an important thing.

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The first minute might seem quiet.

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The fifth minute is
probably gonna be different.

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By then you're noticing fish, crabs,
sea stars, anemones, and things

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that you don't even know were there.

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That's the magic of tide pools.

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You don't need a boat.

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You don't need scuba gear.

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You don't need to even to get wet.

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Maybe you get wet a little bit,
but you don't need to get wet.

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You don't need expensive equipment.

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You just need curiosity.

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They're great for kids.

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If you're a parent and you have
some kids, and they're along the

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coast, take them tide pool hunting.

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It is a lot of fun.

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They are gonna have a blast.

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They're gonna be just
able to see these animals.

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They're gonna be able to wanna pick
them up and all that kinda stuff.

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I tend not to pick them up.

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I tend to just to look at it.

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But it'll really feed their curiosity to
take a look at these fish and take a look

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at these tide pools and all the critters
that are involved in those tide pools

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and that you see in those tide pools.

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So you don't even need to travel far
to experience the wonder of the ocean.

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Sometimes the ocean just leaves its best
surprises right at your feet, in your

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boots, in your waders, whatever you wear.

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It's a lot of fun.

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You are gonna have a blast.

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I highly recommend that you go out on the
East Coast, on the West Coast, wherever

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you live or whatever's closest, wherever
you vacation, check out the tide pools.

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The amount of critters that you find
in those tide pools are just amazing.

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Sometimes you can take a picture, but
the best thing to do is just sit

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in your quiet and enjoy the show.

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It's a lot of fun.

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And speaking of show, I
hope you enjoyed this show.

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If you wanna get ahold of me to talk
about your experiences with tide

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pools or ask questions about tide
pools, I would love to hear them.

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You can hit me up in the socials
that are in the show notes.

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You can DM me on TikTok, on
Instagram, wherever you see.

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If you're on Facebook, reach out to me.

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I'll probably answer pretty quickly.

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That's the episode for today.

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Enjoy tomorrow.

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So don't forget to follow this
episode if you wanna make sure

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you get tomorrow's episode

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with Kirsti Burnett.

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We're gonna talk about the fun
part of living by the Atlantic

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Ocean and cold water oceans.

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It's gonna be a lot of fun.

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But thank you so much for joining
me on today's episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next time,
and happy conservation.