LOW TIDE - A rocky beach at low tide is your best bet to see wildlife. This is Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Moss Beach, California.

AMONG THE ROCKS - This area is completely underwater at high tide. Can you spot the seals on the rocks in the distance? (they are to the right of the seagulls.)

BARNACLES AND LIMPETS - Two creatures you can find easily are barnacles (the ones with the hole) and limpets, because they pick a spot and stay put, even at low tide. There's some leafy seaweed, too.

HERMIT CRABS - The pools of water trapped among the rocks are the best places to look. These snail shells have been taken over by hermit crabs.

STARFISH - Most of us think of starfish when they think of sea creatures. This one is about as big as a grownup's hand.

STARFISH "FEET" - Another starfish has lost one "arm" and is growing another. Do you see the sticky "feet" clinging to the rock? Those are what they use to move around.

A PINK ONE - Starfish come in a variety of colors and shapes. This pink one looks droopy, but is actually "walking" across the rock very slowly.

COZY SEA URCHINS - In a nearby area, purple sea urchins have moved into niches in the rock. Many smaller green anemones have attached to the spaces between them.

SEA URCHIN - Here you can see that besides spines, the urchin has a tentacle-like "tubefeet" that the urchin uses to carry it self along and grab food.

HANDLE WITH CAUTION - You can carefully pick one up without hurting it, but they are fragile. The spines on many are sharp enough to pierce your skin, and some varieties are poisonous.

ABALONE - The California coast has large shellfish called abalones, which have shells with a beautiful shiny, pearl-like interior. We left this one where we found it, for others to enjoy.

SEA ANEMONE - The many varieties of sea anenomes are not flowers but animals, with grasping tentacles that take food to their central mouths. The tentacles can sting, so don't touch!

GULLS ON THE ROCKS - Seagulls are always watching for tasty morsels among the tide pools.

A RESCUED CRAB - This crab had gotten stuck -- trapped on its back -- so we turned it right side up.

CREVICE, SWEET CREVICE - Most of the crabs chose to hide deep inside cracks between the rocks.

MIDDLE-SIZED - They vary widely in size. Of the crabs we found, this was a medium-size one.

JUNIOR - The smaller ones fit easily in a child's palm.

TEENY - A very small one like this got a grip on one boy's fingertip and gave him a painful pinch. Bigger crabs can easily pierce your skin, so be careful!

BACK OFF, STRANGER - The largest crab we saw that day was lively and fierce. This is a defiant pose he took to try to scare us off.

NAPPING - Under one big rock, we found this sleepy red eel-like creature. It was about as long as a grownup's hand.

BASKING IN THE SUN - Can you see two harbor seals sunning themselves on the rock? They are bashful animals and choose resting places well out of reach of people.

RUGGED COAST - Parts of the California shore are so rocky and wave-swept that there is no sandy beach at all.

CAREFUL CLIMBING - Point Lobos State Park has beautiful rock formations.

NATURAL ARCH - The constant force of the waves can carve interesting shapes, including natural arches over the water.

SHELTERED BEACH - Between two steep, rocky hills at Point Lobos, a beautiful green beach makes a more peaceful spot for kelp (tall seaweed) and sea otters.

DUSK AT THE SHORE - At the shore, the view of the sky is unobscured, and here in Santa Cruz, the land, sea, and water combine to make a beautiful sunset.

IN DEEPER WATERS - For a good look at creatures underwater, the place to go is an aquarium. These jellyfish are on display at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

DELICATE BUT DANGEROUS - The long, stinging tendrils of the jellyfish are used to catch their food, mostly very small creatures.

LARGER HERMITS - At the aquarium, bigger specimens of our shore creatures can be seen. These are much bigger hermit crabs than our little tide-pool ones.

THAT'S A CRAB? - More strange and exotic versions of creatures are also on display. This crab looks very different from our tide-pool crabs!

TALL ANEMONE - Deep water sea anemones, too, can look more exotic and graceful. The little orange things on the rock are anemones, too.

THIS MONEY GOES FARTHER - You may have found sand dollars on a beach, but actually you were looking at the skeleton of the sand dollar. Look closely and see how they are covered by thousands of hairlike feet when alive.

THERE'S SO MUCH TO SEE - Whether in aquariums or among the rocks on a beach, the ocean has many amazing and fascinating creatures for you to discover!