Newton guided walk educates beach curiosity
Have you noticed a shell or inhabitant of the Gulf found lying on the Beach that you would like to know the name of? If so, then it is time to take a guided walk on the beachfront of Newton Park on a Wednesday morning.
Join Town Environmental Educator Parke Lewis for “Treasures of the Sea” Guided Beach Walk. The Town of Fort Myers Beach offers the free event each Wednesday. Interested residents and visitors are asked to meet at 9 a.m. at Newton Park (4650 Estero Blvd.) where the educational tour begins.
Attendees will learn about native vegetation and the living beach filled with shells, mangrove pods, seedlings or propagules, snails, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs, jingle shells and any other organisms that occupy the beachfront.
Lewis began his tour by discussing the recently completed supplemental planting of native vegetation in front of Newton Park.
“We are trying to improve the overall look of it. One of my tasks has been to figure out what is salt tolerant because we get a lot of storms here,” he said. “We are trying to clean it up for visitors and events.”
Newton property has not witnessed much trees and plants replacement, said Lewis. Gone are ornamental plants such as Mother-In-Law’s Tongue and vines. In are Coral Bean, Geiger trees, dune sunflower, Indian blanket flower and sea oats.
“We are trying to strike the balance of having native vegetation. It builds up the sand dunes that saves our beaches, and it’s also vital for wildlife. We have a lot of nesting birds and creatures that live in it.”
The group moved to the bottom of the low tide zone to find thousands of Fighting Conches, which host organisms that are vegetarian algae-eaters. Most people should know that harvesting live shells on Estero Island is illegal because state statutes protect them.
“When you see a healthy population of Fighting Conches on the beach, you know that they are eating algae. They establish themselves in this little intertidal zone,” said Lewis. “This is where the algae are accumulating and where they feed. Fighting Conches are a good barometer of a healthy ecosystem.”
Beach walkers should take note that Fighting Conches can live all day out of the water and don’t need to be thrown back into the Gulf.
“That’s part of their life cycle,” said Lewis. “On a super low tide, it is a unique opportunity to see how many we have.”
Coquina shells are other algae-eaters (also know as filter feeders) in the intertidal zone.
“Coquinas are tiny clams that burrow in the sand and are so important for our ecosystem,” said Lewis. “Not only are they cleaning the water as filter feeders, they are taking out algae. They are the bases of the food chain. All these birds you see like sand pipers love them.”
The Town environmental educator also found shells of ark clams, slipper shells (which grows on other shells), olive shells, predator snails and shark’s eyes. He encouraged anyone who had a question about what they found to pick it up and bring it to the group for analysis.
“We have almost 150 different species of shells. If I kind figure it out, I’ll give you a card, and I will look it up for you,” he said.
After walking the intertidal zone, the group moved upland to the high tide zone to view such creatures as marine worms, which build a camouflage casing from shells that also armors it from predators. Pen shells, exoskeletons of horseshoe crabs and holes of ghost crabs were also found.
“One of the most primitive creatures on the planet is the horseshoe crab,” said Lewis. “They have a blue blood, which is extremely important in medical experiments. They make a serum from the blood and are commercially harvested.”
“Treasures of the Sea” Guided Beach Walks are held each Wednesday at 9 a.m. Join the weekly groups and become more familiar with your beach surroundings.