We are a group of ninth grade students from the Education Laboratory School who first became interested in the intertidal when our teacher, Dr. Baumgartner introduced us to this marine environment. Before this we hardly knew there was an intertidal, let alone what it contained. We went on many field trips to study the intertidal first hand. We collected species we found on these trips and brought them back to the classroom to study. We classified them by comparing them to descriptions and pictures in reference books. While we were classifying these species we learned more by observing them closely.

We have discovered that there are many plants and animals and that they are all interesting and beautiful in their own special ways. The types of species of were cnidarians, sponges, worms, algae, fish, and many others. While looking for the species we went to different sites, which were Diamond Head, Coconut Island, Kahana Bay, Sandy Beach, Ewa Beach, and Shark’s Cove. We hope that this site will help you in your search for intertidal organisms because we spent the whole year on it and worked very hard. We have over 100 species so we hope you will be able to find what you are looking for.

If you want to identify a species go to our field guide links. We have set up three indexes (common names, scienctific names and visually oriented) so you have different choices of how to find information on animals and algae. Details of our project and threats to the intertidal can be found on the Extras page.

What is the intertidal?

The intertidal is the area between the shoreline and the ocean. It is home to thousands of different species of animals and plants. The intertidal can be rocky or smooth. It can be hard or soft. The intertidal zone is also called tidepools. It is very important to all marine life. It is prey to many species. Some species in the intertidal help filter the water and clean it. They provide oxygen for other species. The intertidal has fish mollusks, echinoderms, tunicates, sponges, algae, and crustaceans.

The intertidal is an area that the tide fills up at high tide, but is left dry at low tide. It is home to many organisms found on this page. The intertidal is the area like the tidepools, the shoreline, and more.