There is no more personal a science, no more relevant a study than that of life.  We can examine the stars from afar or we can take our looking-glasses to the Earth, but not until we bring our eyes to flesh, to living cells, to the very essence of life do we begin to learn about ourselves.  Biology, the study of life, teaches us about this vibrant world that we inhabit and, through understanding, brings us closer to it.  In this spirit, we have trekked to a place that few visit; we have immersed ourselves in the thickets, the sludge, and the jagged, mussel-encrusted rocks.  We have gone, sometimes unwillingly, to a world that is alien to the urban mind.  Yet, we have returned, ever-vigilant explorers.

It was with a gentle curiosity, and some measure of academic prodding, that we took to studying the many wonderful and unique organisms found along this lonely waterway.  By a plankton net and RC boat, by a submersible ROV and awkward view screen, by shovel and muddied hands, or simply by keen eye we collected, examined, observed, and learned.  Then we took to books, websites or esteemed scientists, and expanded our knowledge even more, so that now we can bring to the reader a paltry, yet nonetheless remarkable, piece of our own experience.

Within this guide one may find all manner organisms described.  The alien octopus is a but page flip away from the free-floating, microscopic plankton, while the fearsome osprey can be found only a stone’s throw from a rockbound sponge.  Yet most all of the organisms one finds within these pages share the common ground of being members of the Kingdom Animalia.  That is not to say the occasional California Palms or phytoplankton can’t be found, but rather that they are exceptions to the rule.  This may, in fact, be due to some level of ‘zoocentricism’ on our part, but what can one expect from a fellow animal?  More importantly, however, it is with the spirit of field guides past that we create this and such we follow their example in the pursuit of a single, if large, taxa.

Yet, animal or not, every entry has been tailored through hard work to inform and educate.  Every organism in this guide bears with it information regarding its appearance, reproduction, locomotion, feeding, range, habitat, and feeding, even the minutia of a scientific name’s translation or a quirk of nature.  In this manner we bring to the reader all the knowledge that our trips have afforded us.  For those who read with hope of identifying a mystery, we have created the dichotomous key, where it takes but a pair of eyes that see and a layman’s sense to find the true nature of an organism.  Or for those of a more scientific calling, or perhaps a simple browser, we have all of the unique organisms we’ve encountered organized by taxonomic classification and complexity.
      

With all of this we hope to bring those gentle nuances of this supposedly, stagnant, lifeless body of water to those who would think it so and prevent such ideas from ever being planted within a fresh mind.  So turn the pages, read about a tunicate, or a crab, or a mussel, or an egret, and discover the complexities of the life within this little corner of the world we call the Boat Channel.

-- Sean Nunley