2022-0211 A Day On The Beach
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Sanderling at the top of the sheen zone
As the wave recedes it creates three zones: active water flow, sheen zone (where there is a sheen of water but no flow) and drying sand. Sand crabs are feeding in the active water flow and either burrow down when it becomes sheen or roll down the beach toward the base of the wave, if the tide is receding. As the tide is rising they will roll up the beach on incoming waves.
If there are no birds around and you aren't too close, it's in the sheen zone that you can see Emerita eyestalks poking above the sand.
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