Check the tide book. Wait for a minus tide. Then head for the eelgrass flats to search for some of the most beautiful seashore treasures in Puget Sound. Wade in the shallows, letting the soft eelgrass plants wrap around your legs. Look closely. Some of the plants aren't plants at all!

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Emerald green pipefish can be longer than a hot dog and are always thinner than a pencil. Relatives of seahorses, the males carry little ones in a pouch until the baby pipefish swim freely. Many other baby fish, crabs, and shrimp live in the eelgrass. Young salmon and Dungeness crab are especially attracted to the valuable sea plant habitat.

Eelgrass is unlike most ocean plants. It actually has flowers like plants on land. It needs a steady but not overwhelming supply of sand for its strong roots to take hold. This sand supply comes from bluffs along the beach, a river of sand that flows from land to sea and along the shore. Follow the ripples of sand out to the green sea grass garden and look for pipefish, a tasty crab, herring, salmon, flounders, sea stars, clams, and much more. They all need eelgrass to survive. 

Up Close: Cutthroat Trout are actually salmon. They can be found in eelgrass all year long where they hunt for shrimp, clam necks, herring, and sandlance. You might fish for them with a spoon, fly, or bait. Hold one in your hand and you will be treated to a dazzling splash of bright orange – their “cut” throat.