As a river water monitor for Kanagawa Prefecture, I’m getting familiar with observation sessions in rivers these days. But I haven’t done the same for creatures in sea … Er, to be exact, I haven’t done this for tens of years. When I was a first grader, I made a box of specimens I collected in the south rocky shore of Enoshima Island (; my post for June 30, 2017). At that time, the place was not so much gentrified for tourism, and finding crabs, sea shells, et al was an extreme fun for 6 years old. I was excited to many chitons and found sea slugs in tide pools ... Long time ago. Then, suddenly this spring I had a chance to join an observasion session for sea creatures in none other than Enoshima. This time, the place for the session was not the south shore facing Pacific Ocean, but the west shore of Sagami Bay. Beyond us was misty silouette of spring Mt. Fuji. The air was warm. Lots of people relaxing around Sagami Bay.
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| er … could you figure out Mt. Fuji over there? |
The definite difference between the south and the west shores of Enoshima is, the south shore is very rocky thanks to the seafloor uplift by 1924 Great Kanto Earthquake. In contrast, the rocky area of the west shore is undersea unless it is the time of spring time. I recalled I visited there when we had observation session for wild birds a couple of years ago (; my post for 17, March 2023). The difference of geology between two places for a tiny island of Enoshima is due to the plate tectonics. Great Kanto Earthquake was caused by movements of Sagmi Trough which is continuously receiving humongous stress from the crush of Phillippines and North American Plates. The direction of pressure is from the Pacific Ocean to the north of Honshu Island. Enoshima is sitting on this squeeze, and so the south shore looks like washboards. The west shore of the island is spared from such stress to some extent, and the facing deeper area of Sagami Bay and so-so substantial mass of Izu Peninsula. The beach can maintain a continuation of sandy beach of Kugenuma. The wave is not so direct as from the Pacific Ocean.
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| When
it‘s not spring tide, the place we visited for the above photo is undersea like this. |
I’m not sure if such geological difference affect the findings we did during the observation session. But I haven’t met chitons or sea slugs at all. Instead, baby sardines in tidal pools are escaping around our looking eyes. Hermit crabs lived easygoing lives with sometimes broken shells. The spring tide lowered the tide by more than 20cm compared with the average. It locked up the dopy creatures in tidal pools. Many kids (and parents) were hooked on the mini expedition. “Dad, look, I caught a baby jellyfish!” Many people gathered around his proud handy aquarium where a jellyfish of less than 1cm diameter floating leisurely.
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| It’s
indeed a wonder of the earth. Such a wide open space for tidal pools we’ve met. |
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| The wave was not much. |
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| Below the seaweed, baby sardines quickly hide. |
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| These two seashells are actually hermit crabs. |
On that morning, we could observe tombolo connecting Honshu mainland and Enoshima. By the time we concluded the observation, the tide was returning and covering the tidal pools. We released our catch to the sea. Goodbye hermit crabs. We may see you again sometime, don’t you think so? It was a fun and relaxing holiday. I thought maybe the dragon forest on the mainland saw such easygoing and beautiful Enoshima Benten sisters and easily fell in love with them (; my post for June 30, 2017) … May peace on earth.
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| Tombolo
is widening. Warning: unless the city of Fujisawa opens the gate of steps at Enoshima side, even if you walk tombolo from Honshu side, you cannot land on Enoshima Island. It is extremely dangerous you try this when the gate is closed. To walk seafloor, please check the HP I listed below if the City opens the gate on that tombolo day. |
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| At
the time of closing for our observation tour, tombolo was closing. |
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| And the tidal pool are submerging. |
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| Before
leaving the beach, we returned our catch to the sea. |
The session I‘ve joined was arranged by NPO Papalagi. They have several fun nature events around Sagami Bay, mainly for kids. If you and your family are interested in their future programme, please visit their homepage. Mind you, they are popular. For safety reason, each session has limited capacity, and so RSVP. The seats are taken quickly normally within a couple of days after opening. Good luck. 😉
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| Papalagi
people explaining sea creatures before we actually went the finding mission. |
If you find environmental problems in Enoshima Island, please make a contact to
Local History Section, Continued Learning Promotion Division, Fujisawa City
Fujisawa Plaza, 1-2 Kugenuma-Higashi, Fujisawa, 251-0026
Phone: 0466-25-1111 (ext.) 5313,
FAX: 0466-27-0201
藤沢市生涯学習部郷土歴史課
〒251-0026 藤沢市鵠沼東1番2号 藤沢プラザ5階
You can send an enquiry to them from their homepage at https://www.city.fujisawa.kanagawa.jp/cgi-bin/simple_faq/form.cgi
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