All fluffed and beautiful. By the way, what are you doing with that clam?

Often the prettiest denizens of the beach don't look like much when the tide's out. This especially holds true of the feather duster worms that hang out on rocks or the bottom of docks.

At the Des Moines beach, at low tide, they usually look rather slimy, brown and not exactly something you'd like to touch. But see them when the tide comes in, they extend their plumes and begin to feed. You'll see this! (taken on my camera phone)

While on the beach this summer, I was just back from snapping this picture when I came across a six-year-old boy banging something against a rock. I assumed it was another rock, until I came closer and saw it was a large horse clam (a fave of moonsnails for lunch). The boy had chipped out its outer rim, and his parents were just watching him do this.

In a calm voice I told him to stop, that he was hurting this creature and did he really want to kill it? He looked and me and made a move to start pounding again (again, parental units were still doing nothing at this point), so I simply took the clam from him and explained in my best Beach Naturalist voice that this was his (or her?) home, not ours. These animals live for like, up to 100 years, unless they become food for gulls or moon snails. He just ran away, looking for something else to torture I guess.

In the log book that day, the beach captain, while listing the day's finds, she did note I saved one clam from an untimely death. (: Probably became a moon snail snack the next day.