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Shell Beach

Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, British Columbia · Canada

What have people found?

Purple olive snail, eccentric sand dollar and dungeness crab turn up here more than at our other tide pools. Giant green anemone, ochre sea star and aggregating anemone are the usual finds. ~169 distinct species have been recorded here, across at least 7 years of observations.

What is the best time to visit today?

Download the app to see the 7-day schedule.

Modeled while the Tofino gauge loads. Sources.

See low tide times at Shell Beach for the next three days
  1. Sun, Nov 15~11:00 AMin the dark~11:30 PM
  2. Mon, Nov 16~12:00 PM
  3. Tue, Nov 17in the dark~12:30 AM~1:30 PM

Every low tide each day, in local time at the shore.

Plan the week in Intertidal
  • A tide chart for every day, with the best window marked
  • Identify what you find from a photo
  • An alert when a good daylight low is coming

When do people visit?

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Most observations come from May and August.

What should you know before visiting?

Customer parking is about 0.3 miles away.
Arrive 45 minutes to an hour before low tide and leave as it turns. The water comes back faster than it left.
Grippy shoes beat sandals. Wet rock and algae are more slippery than they look. Tide pool safety
A tide pool is a fragile place. Look and photograph, take nothing. The tidepooling code

What lives at Shell Beach?

Species records from iNaturalist

Giant Green AnemoneAnthopleura xanthogrammica
Ochre Sea StarPisaster ochraceus
Aggregating AnemoneAnthopleura elegantissima
Gooseneck BarnaclePollicipes polymerus
Purple Shore CrabHemigrapsus nudus
Black TegulaTegula funebralis
Feather Boa KelpEgregia menziesii
California MusselMytilus californianus
Pacific Banana SlugAriolimax columbianus
Bull KelpNereocystis luetkeana
RockweedFucus distichus
Eccentric Sand DollarDendraster excentricus
Leather StarDermasterias imbricata
Dungeness CrabMetacarcinus magister
Purple Olive SnailCallianax biplicata
Scan this tide pool on your next visit.

Every organism named, every visit logged to your journal.