In this context,' Fossat wrote in Science, 'the crayfish represents a new model that might provide insights into the mechanisms underlying anxiety that have been conserved during evolution. Our results also emphasize the ability of an invertebrate to exhibit a state that is similar to a mammalian emotion but which likely arose early during the evolution of metazoans. I found this book phenomenal, so much more than I had hoped. It's so accessible, fairly easy to understand, yet presents new information along with some I have been exposed to before, but in new, entertaining ways. Beaches have tidal zones – distinct parts named according to how much the water level varies within it: Twice each month, the moon lines up with the Earth and sun. These are called the new moon and the full moon. When the moon is between the Earth and the sun, it is in the sun’s shadow and appears dark. This is the new moon. When the Earth is between the sun and moon, the moon reflects sunlight. This is the full moon.

A look at the life spans of sandhoppers, prawn, winkle, crab and anemones along with the moon's influence on tidal movement. The splash zone – the area just above the high-tide line that water doesn’t cover but can get splashed by waves, especially if they are big or at high tide.So-called “ red tides” also have nothing to do with actual tides. A red tide is another term for an algal bloom. Algae are microscopicsea creatures. When billions of red algae form, or “bloom,” in the ocean, the waves and tides appear red. Tides produce some interesting features in the ocean. Tides are also associated with features that have nothing to do with them. The article Building Science Concepts: Life between the tides provides additional science and pedagogical information. Nicolson] succeeds gloriously in conveying the marvels of a stretch of Scottish tidal coast, mixing history, science, and precise descriptions bright with inventive metaphors and profound revelations." — Booklist (Starred Review)

People can be very active in the low-tide zone. Simple nets can catch fish here, and fishers can collect animals like crabs, mussels, and clams. “The tide is out, our table is set,” is a traditional saying among the Tlingit nation ( tribe), who live along the Pacific Northwest coast in Alaska and Canada. Intertidal Zones (Zonation): The natural division of the area between when the tide is at its highest and at its lowest. Zone 2 – starts approximately at south end of Zone 1 bay and ends at the Coast Guard boundary; only uncovered during low tides Connections animate the book. The physics of the seas, the biology of anemone and limpet, the long history of the earth itself, the governing myths and stories of those who have lived and survived here: all interconnect in the zone where philosopher, scientist and poet can meet and puzzle over the nature of what exists. There is something about a pool which – not to make too gross a pun on it – encourages the reflective, leads the mind not merely to transcribe the experience of the actual, to give it a topography, but allows the questions of why it means what it does, what its reality consists of, to what extent everything that confronts you is more than the local.I also found it weird that, near the end, the author chose to include a philosophy belonging to a Nazi. While the author cited a Jewish-written book on this philosophy, I'm still hesitant to listen to something that came from a hateful mind.

During low tide visitors can witness residents interacting with each other and utilizing the algae and surf grass for food and shelter. Evocative . . . [Nicolson’s] wonder is infectious, and he makes a convincing case that to better understand the sea, people must pay more attention . . . As poetic as it is enlightening, [ Life Between the Tides ] is tough to put down." — Publishers Weekly The zooplankton (kōurangi) are tiny organisms that are found at and near the surface of the water and are the most numerous of the animals living in the tidal zone. They include tiny adult animals such as shrimps and krill and the larvae and young of fish and shellfish. Smaller fish (ika) and jellyfish (petipeti) depend on this food source and also live in the shallow waters. A remarkable and powerful book, the rarest of things … Nicolson is unique as a writer … I loved it’ EDMUND DE WAAL Few places are as familiar as the shore – and few as full of mystery and surprise. I really enjoyed the in-depth descriptions and creative storytelling, and the prose itself was very thought-provoking and intriguing. However, my enjoyment of this book was upset with the discussion of overpopulation as a fact.The final section is the people that have inhabited this shoreline, how they came to be there, how they survived on the most meagre of rations and their faith that somehow sustained them is this harsh place. The book ends with the creations of a third and final pool and the latest influx of creatures that end up within it. New Zealand beaches include a variety of distinct habitats, each supporting a wide range of living things. All beaches share several characteristics: Life Between the Tides] evokes [the tide pools’] tiny inhabitants in lovely detail . . . Periwinkles smell the juices of their crab-killed comrades and flee into crevices. There’s brutality here, but also brilliance—anemones, despite literal brainlessness, adeptly size up their rivals—and astonishing tenderness . . . Nicolson’s at his best when he’s focused on his precious littoral world.” —Ben Goldfarb, The New York Times Book Review But there is a great deal more on the human evaluation - the history of the people that lived along the bay and made their living - or tried to - from the sea. From the Mesolithic to the present. As sacrifice, survival and beliefs tried to help their endurance of devastating conditions - abject poverty, hunger, and determination to more than exist. This passage created an image of time pooling around me. Who is to say it does not? When I stop and really attend to something, time seems to stop for a moment and expand out. Science or pseudoscience? Looks like science from where I'm sitting.

The beach environment undergoes not only the diverse regular daily and seasonal changes of conditions but also the unpredictable changes due to extreme weather, unusual tides and the impact of people. Forces that contribute to tides are called tidal constituents. The Earth’s rotation is a tidal constituent. The major tidal constituent is the moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth. The closer objects are, the greater the gravitational force is between them. Although the sun and moon both exert gravitational force on the Earth, the moon’s pull is stronger because the moon is much closer to the Earth than the sun is. The foreshore in this bay is ‘Presumed Crown Land’. Long debate filled much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries over the ownership of ‘that part of the land which is neither always wet, nor always dry due to the ebb and flow of the incoming and outgoing tide’. About half of the foreshore in Scotland was claimed by the neighbouring landowners, largely on the basis that their tenants, when gathering seaweed for fertiliser or to burn for its chemical residues, had paid the landowners rent for it. Scandalously, if rent was paid, ownership was implied. The relatively small amount of weed collected here meant that no rent was ever paid and so this bay went unclaimed. As Crown property, it is now administered by the Crown Estate Commissioners for Scotland. Tidal energy is a renewable resource that many engineers and consumers hope will be developed on a large scale. Now, small programs in Northern Ireland, South Korea, and the U.S. state of Maine are experimenting with harnessing the power of tides. The concepts introduced here are developed further in Building Science Concepts: Tidal communities which explores the overarching concepts for levels 3 and 4.How do sandhoppers inherit an inbuilt compass from their parents? How do crabs understand the tides? How can the death of one winkle guarantee the lives of its companions? What does a prawn know?