- I'm Coyote Peterson, this is Aidan and this is Dylan.
And today, we're making a tide pool aquarium.
You got him? Get him in there! Yes!
- Yes, all right!
(vigorous percussion and western music)
- [Coyote] On this episode of Coyote's Backyard,
we're headed to the coast, where we will be navigating
the slippery rocks with the goal of capturing
as many tide pool animals as we can.
The coastline of California is lined with public beaches
and if you arrive at low tide, you can leave
the sand behind to explore amidst the rocks and shallows.
Today I'm venturing out with Aidan and Dylan.
- Yeah!
- Who've been searching out and admiring
marine animals for most of their young lives.
Typically they compete against one another
to see who can catch the coolest creature first.
I think it's safe to say that nothing beats
a friendly competition between two brothers.
However, today we are going to mix things up a little
and we will be working together as a team
to find and safely capture their favorite creatures.
Okay, so the first thing that we need to do is fill up
the aquarium with water.
Aidan, I'm going to give you that responsibility.
So, head on out there into the ocean
and fill it up with water.
We'll wait here. (slap)
Now, we need to have water inside of our aquarium
so that the animals that we catch and put in there
are in their natural habitat.
Watch your footing.
It's slippery out here.
You guys have those good water shoes on, right?
- [Aidan & Dylan] Yeah, yup.
- It helps you stick to the rocks?
All right, let's see, let's check this out.
With water in the aquarium, we are now officially ready
to start looking for creatures.
Are you guys ready.
- Yeah!
- I think these guys are ready to catch some creatures.
All right, everybody spread out and let's see
what we can find.
And just like that, we were off and searching.
Aidan and Dylan have a very precise method.
First you look into the shallow pools of water
to see if anything is visible to the naked eye.
And if not, then you begin gently flipping over rocks.
And it didn't take more than a few minutes
before Dylan called out the first find of the day.
- Mark, I found some sea stars!
- Oh yeah?
What you got, Bud?
Oh yes, look at that!
- [Mark] Look at those.
- That's awesome!
Great job, Dylan.
All right, pick one up and hold it up for the camera.
Oh, those are bright-colored too, little orange ones.
And some people call 'em star fish,
but we've actually learned that they're
technically called sea stars.
That's pretty awesome.
Why don't you grab that other one from down there, too.
- [Mark] Yeah, we wanna get that one.
- [Coyote] Set it in my hand.
- [Mark] Oh, that one's really bright.
- That one's really bright orange, let's see,
put it in my hand there.
Now, do you guys find these sea stars a lot?
- [Aidan] Yeah. - Yeah.
- [Coyote] Is this a very common animal
here in the tide pools?
- Yeah. - Yeah, about that.
- You think it's the most exciting animal?
- Eh.
- What would be more exciting than a sea star?
- Octopus. - Octopus.
- Octopus, well let's put these in the aquarium
and continue on looking for octopus.
Dylan you do the honors, there you go.
- [Dylan] Awk.
- [Coyote] Boom, into the container.
All right guys, well so far, we have two sea stars.
On to the next thing.
A few more steps down the beach,
and Aidan stumbled upon one of the most bizarre animals
you can come cross at low tide.
- Whoa Aidan, do you know what that is?
- A sea slug?
- It is, that is a black sea hare,
a giant sea slug.
You want me to put this on your head?
- Yeah.
- Yeah? Let's see it, let's see if he'll.
Look at that, uh.
Have you ever had a slug on your head before?
It's like a new kind of hair gel.
- Not until now, yeah.
- It's gonna be great hair gel for ya.
- Yup.
- All right, I don't think that he is going to fit
inside of our aquarium, but that is
a pretty cool creature to come across.
It's slimy, isn't it.
- Yeah.
- Oh wow, that is one sticky, slimy slug.
All right, I think we need to find something
a little bit smaller (exclamation of disgust)
for our aquarium.
Up next was a creature that looked
as if it was from another planet.
- Hey Coyote, I got a brittle star.
- Ooh, let's see, Dylan come here and check this out.
Now do these things bite?
- [Aidan] No. - Oh, that's good.
All right here, put it in my hands.
Let's see if we can get it to walk around.
Nice catch, wow that is pretty bizarre-looking,
isn't it?
Now, these are related to sea stars, aren't they?
- Yup.
- Wow, ooh, that feels kind of crazy.
All it's little tentacles grabbing onto me.
Well, I think this is a great thing for our aquarium.
Dylan, will you do me a favor and open up the top here?
All right, gonna put this brittle star down in here
with his sea star cousins, there we go.
All right, I got the aquarium, let's keep searching.
The real secret to tide pool exploration is taking
your time at every single pocket of water.
And if you look real hard, there's a good chance
something can be found.
I found two crabs, right here in this little puddle.
And these are green striped shore crabs.
I'm gonna have Dylan come in and I'm gonna challenge
him to catch 'em.
Hey Dylan. - What?
- [Coyote] I found some crabs, buddy.
- [Dylan] Yay!
- [Coyote] Come on in here and guess what?
You're gonna be the one that catches 'em.
- [Dylan] Okay.
- All right, I got one right there, whoa look at that,
he's flaring his little pincers up.
Be careful!
Ooh, you're brave.
Nice, hold that up for the camera.
- [Mark] Take a look at that.
- (laughs) Ooh.
- I got him, I got him, I got him.
Oop, he's holdin' on, get him.
Got him? Nice catch!
All right, I'll get the aquarium.
That is one brave kid right there.
Reaching down into the water to pick up a crab.
Put him in, oh yes.
Okay, the aquarium's looking pretty good so far.
We've got a brittle star, we've got some sea stars.
We've got two striped shore crabs
and some great decorations.
- You know what this aquarium could really use?
- What's that?
- An octopus.
- Oh, (laughing) I agree with you Aidan.
I think this aquarium needs an octopus.
Should we keep searching?
- Yeah.
- All right, let's go.
The boys ran ahead with excitement,
as they were determined to find an octopus,
which can oftentimes be like finding
a needle in a haystack.
Camouflage is crucial to the existence
of most animals.
And whether it's being used to keep
a predator concealed while stalking
in the shadows, or a prey species hidden
from the predators attack, the creatures
who specifically inhabit the shoreline boast
some of the greatest hiding abilities in the world.
Oh gosh, look at this, there's a goby,
right there up against that rock.
Look, look, look, look, look.
- [Mark] Oh, he blends in like perfectly.
- [Coyote] You see it? That is perfect camouflage.
I'm gonna try to slowly cup my hands around it
and see if we can get it out of the water.
Real slow, but I think I got him.
Yes, got it!
- [Aidan] Oh nice!
- [Coyote] That is a little goby.
Awesome Mark, can you see that?
- [Mark] Yeah.
- Sweet, all right.
Can one of you open up the aquarium here?
- [Dylan] I've got it.
- All right, get it for me buddy.
The aquarium is open and goby is in.
We got it?
- [Mark] Nice! - Nice!
Dude, this is excellent. (slaps)
Now we have a fish.
There's only one thing left to add to this aquarium.
You know what that is, right?
- Octopus.
- All right, who's gonna catch the octopus?
- [Aidan] I will!
- You're gonna catch it?
- [Aidan] Yeah, I'm gonna.
- I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna catch it.
- I'll go look.
- You're gonna get it first?
- Yeah.
- All right, the race for the octopus is on.
The race didn't last much longer,
as no more than a few yards from the goby,
I spotted an octopus.
All right, this is exciting.
I'm almost positive that there's an octopus
under this rock.
Just out of the corner of my eye,
I saw a tentacle tuck back under there.
I brought in the boys and what I'm going
to do is slowly lift up the rock.
Now when I do this, I need you guys
to gently scoop up the octopus,
so we can get it for the aquarium.
Are you ready? - Yup.
- This is what you guys are good at.
So, I'm gonna lift the rock, you guys get the octopus.
Mark, you good? - Go for it.
- [Coyote] All right, here we go.
- [Mark] You guys ready for this?
- [Aidan] Yup.
- [Mark] They're fast.
- [Coyote] (Groaning) Fingers crossed, come on octopus.
Real slow, real slow.
- [Mark] There he is!
- [Aidan] Oh, yup.
- [Coyote] Oh yes, yes, get it, get it, get it.
Oh, it's on the bottom of the rock.
Scoop it up, scoop it up.
Wow! Get it, get it, get it, get it.
Oh, he's gonna try to get back under the rock.
You got him? You got him?
Here, let's lift it up, lift it up.
- [Mark] He's stuck to the rock?
- He's stuck to the rock, look at that!
Okay, let's just look at him like that.
Holy cow, there it is.
That is a two spot octopus.
All right, Aidan put your hand in here.
Let me see if I can get it to just slink
onto your hand.
Oh, look at those sticky tentacles.
And, octopus in the hand!
Excellent, all right.
- [Mark] You got him.
- [Coyote] I got the aquarium, yeah!
Open, lid open, lid open.
Dylan, get the lid.
Get him in there, yes!
- Yeah, baby.
- Woo!
We have caught an octopus,
that is a two spot octopus
and I am pretty sure that that caps off
the best creature we can possibly find
here in the tide pools.
All right, let's go up here onto the rocks
and take a look at all of our catches.
Now this is my favorite part.
This is almost like Halloween.
It's like we went out, got all of the candy,
and now we've got to sort through it
and see what we've got.
Okay, I'm gonna take the top of the aquarium off.
First let's go for this crab,
'cause it's right on the edge here.
Don't pinch me, don't pinch me.
Ah, yup he's pinching me.
Ouch, ah wow, ow!
He's got me good.
Ah, look at that.
Well, he's holding on to me,
while I'm holding onto him.
Now that is a striped shore crab
and that thing is beautiful, look at
that green and black striping.
You see, he's blowing bubbles at me.
(hissing) Ooh, boy he almost popped a hole
in my finger.
All right, let's see if I can get him to balance
from hand to hand.
Wow, so you guys catch these crabs all the time
and you don't get pinched by 'em?
- [Aidan] Not really, no.
- [Coyote] Of course, it's me that comes out here
and get's pinched, every single time.
All right, let's see what else we've got in here.
All right Dylan, what do you want me to take out next?
- [Dylan] The brittle star!
- [Coyote] The brittle star, let's find it.
I think it's hiding under here.
Oh, there it is.
I'll try to get it here.
Got it, okay.
Wow, look at that.
- [Mark] Now, I always thought that that was
just a sea star, what's the difference?
- A brittle star is very ambidextrous,
you can see that its arms allow it to crawl
much more quickly over any surface,
while a sea star pretty much stays planted in one spot.
Look at that, it almost looks like a mix
between an sea star and a spider.
Now Aidan, what do you think this creature looks like?
- It looks kind of like an alien.
- It does look like an alien, doesn't it?
And I think that all the creatures
of the tide pools look like they're
from another planet.
All right, let's put this one back into the aquarium
and take something else out.
Ready? You wanna put him in?
- [Dylan] Yup. - There you go.
Set him in there gently.
Okay, what shall we take out next?
Do you think we can get the goby out of there?
- [Mark] Now, what is a goby?
- [Coyote] A goby is a little, bottom-feeding fish
and it's probably gonna be fairly hard
to get in and out of here.
There we go, I got it.
There we go. - Nice.
- Only keep him out of the water for a second,
look at that.
- [Dylan] He's got buggy eyes.
- He sure does have buggy eyes.
Have you guys ever caught a goby before?
- [Aidan] Yeah. - Yeah, lots.
- Okay, is this a big goby or a small goby?
- Compared to the ones we find, a big.
- It's a big one? - Yeah.
- Cool.
Well, I'd say that is a perfect creature
to have in our aquarium then.
And it sure was fast, wasn't it?
- [Aidan] Yeah. - Yeah.
- All right, let's get the goby back into the water.
There you go little fish.
Okay, and last, but not least, it is octopus time.
All right, let me see if I can get it
up off the corner here.
Whoa, squirt me with water.
Wow, the two spot octopus, look at those eyes,
looking right back at us.
And it is saying, whoa, let me back into the water.
And they're so slimy.
Go ahead, put your fingers in here.
And you guys handle these things all the time, right?
- [Aidan] Yeah.
- Ooh, it's amazing how fast that they can slither
from one hand to the next.
Whoop, it's trying to get away from us.
Bring it back up here.
Now, have you guys ever been inked by an octopus?
- Yes. - Yeah.
- You have? Is that gross?
- A lot, a lot.
- He's, yeah, he's been.
- You get inked a lot?
- Many times.
- I have yet to be inked by an octopus,
and I don't think that I want to be.
Well, this is pretty awesome.
And I think at this point we need to get
all these creatures, back into the ocean.
What do you think?
- [Aidan Yup. - Yeah.
- Sounds good to me.
Well, I would consider this a complete success.
We came across so many creatures today, guys,
sea stars, brittle stars, crabs,
and even a two spot octopus.
Aidan, Dylan, thank you guys so much
for having me, right out here into your backyard,
exploring the tide pools of California.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave!
- Stay wild!
- We'll see ya on the next adventure.
Searching for and admiring tide pool creatures is
a great way to enjoy nature.
However, some sea creatures are venomous.
And if you were going to attempt handling one,
always remember that it's important
to properly identify a species
before picking it up.
- Yeah. (clap)
- Yeah buddy. (clap)
- Awesome, we did it, all right!
Well, let's get back on the shore.
If you thought this Coyote's Backyard was exciting,
tell us about all the cool things that live
behind your house.
Because you never know,
the Brave Wilderness crew and I might show up
to film an episode with you.
And don't forget, subscribe, so you can join us
on our next big adventure.
(crashing roar, howling)
(birds chirping)