| Steller sea lions at Orford Reef | |
| |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Length | 9 mi (14 km) (approximately) |
| Width | 4–5 mi (6.4–8.0 km) (approximately) |
| Administration | |
| State of Oregon | |
Orford Reef is a reef located off Cape Blanco on the southern coast of Oregon in the United States. The reef is situated around eight small rock islands: Best Rock, Long Brown Rock, Unnamed Rock, Square White Rock, Seal Rock, Conical White Rock, West Conical Rock, and Arch Rock. [1] [2]
It was part of Cape Orford, named by Captain George Vancouver in 1792, but the name Cape Orford fell into disuse and Cape Blanco became the common usage; the reef retains its original moniker, [3] after one or the other Earls of Orford and likely Horace Walpole son of the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, Robert Walpole.
The reef includes forests of bull kelp up to 100 feet (30 m) long, which provide protective habitat for numerous animals, including the bat ray, big skate, broadnose sevengill shark, cabezon, kelp bass, leopard shark, spiny dogfish, kelp greenling, plumose anemone, and numerous species of rockfish. [4] The reef also supports more than 39,000 seabirds, including 5% of the common murre nesting population in Oregon. [2] The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon contains a simulated version of Orford Reef in its Passages of the Deep exhibit. [5]
A grey or brown shark with white spots scattering it's back and just like regular sharks, spiny dogfish don't have an anal fin, but they are one of their many kinds to have a venomous spine.
Yellowtail are greenish to yellowish on their back side while their bottom side lays pale. These large, heavy body fishes can be founded from Unalaska Island in Alaska to San Diego, California. You can find them usually swimming in reefs, banks, and along the coastlines.
Also known as the white-plumed anemone are broad oral disc covered with short, slender, tapering tentacles and when they extend they become tall and slender. Plumose anemone are colored from a white, cream, tan, orange, or brown shade. Usually can be found on pilings, floats, or breakwaters in bays and harbors in Southern Alaska to Southern California.
Copper rockfish vary in color to a dark brown or olive to pink or an orange-red with patches of copper pink or yellow. They are typically solitary swimmers yet they sometimes gather in small groups. These copper rockfishes can scatter from Southwest Alaska to Baja California, but can also be found from British Columbia to Southern California.
The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately 362 miles (583 km) from the California state border in the south to the Columbia River in the north. The region is not a specific geological, environmental, or political entity, and includes the Columbia River Estuary.
Cape Blanco is a prominent headland on the Pacific Ocean coast of southwestern Oregon in the United States, forming the westernmost point in the state. Cape Blanco extends farther west than any point of land in the contiguous United States except portions of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, including Cape Alava, the true westernmost point. The cape is part of Cape Blanco State Park and is the location of the Cape Blanco Light, first lit in 1870.
The Oregon Coast Aquarium is an aquarium in Newport in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 1992, the facility sits on 23 acres (9.3 ha) along Yaquina Bay near the Pacific Ocean. The aquarium was home to Keiko, the orca who starred in the movie Free Willy, from January 7, 1996, until September 9, 1998, when he was shipped to Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland. USA Today considers the Oregon Coast Aquarium world-class and Coastal Living magazine ranks it among the top ten aquariums in North America.
The leopard shark is a species of houndshark, in the family Triakidae. It is found along the Pacific coast of North America, from the U.S. state of Oregon to Mazatlán in Mexico. Typically measuring 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) long, this slender-bodied shark is immediately identifiable by the striking pattern of black saddle-like markings and large spots over its back, from which it derives its common name. Large schools of leopard sharks are a common sight in bays and estuaries, swimming over sandy or muddy flats or rock-strewn areas near kelp beds and reefs. They are most common near the coast, in water less than 4 m (13 ft) deep.
The China rockfish, the yellowstripe rockfish or yellowspotted rockfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is native to the waters of the Pacific Ocean off western North America.
The horn shark is a species of bullhead shark, in the family Heterodontidae. It is endemic to the coastal waters off the western coast of North America, from California to the Gulf of California. Young sharks are segregated spatially from the adults, with the former preferring deeper sandy flats and the latter preferring shallower rocky reefs or algal beds. A small species typically measuring 1 m (3.3 ft) in length, the horn shark can be recognized by a short, blunt head with ridges over its eyes, two high dorsal fins with large spines, and a brown or gray coloration with many small dark spots.
The tiger rockfish, also called tiger seaperch, banded rockfish and black-banded rockfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is native to the waters of the Pacific Ocean off western North America.
Seashore wildlife habitats exist from the Tropics to the Arctic and Antarctic. Seashores and beaches provide varied habitats in different parts of the world, and even within the same beach. Phytoplankton is at the bottom of some food chains, while zooplankton and other organisms eat phytoplankton. Kelp is also autotrophic and at the bottom of many food chains. Coastal areas are stressed through rapid changes, for example due to tides.
Sebastes miniatus, the vermilion rockfish, vermilion seaperch, red snapper, red rock cod, and rasher, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is native to the waters of the Pacific Ocean off western North America from Baja California to Alaska.
The black rockfish, also known variously as the black seaperch, black bass, black rock cod, sea bass, black snapper and Pacific Ocean perch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is sometimes misidentified as the "red snapper".
The quillback rockfish, also known as the quillback seaperch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. This species primarily dwells in salt water reefs. The average adult weighs 2–7 pounds and may reach 1 m in length. Quillback rockfish are named for the sharp, venomous quills or spines on the dorsal fin. Their mottled orange-brown coloring allows them to blend in with rocky bottom reefs. The quillback rockfish eats mainly crustaceans, but will also eat herring. They are solitary and minimally migratory, but not territorial, and give birth to live young (viviparous). They are a popular sport fish, generally caught in cold water 41–60 m deep, but also to subtidal depths of 275 m.
Oxyjulis californica is a species of wrasse native to the eastern Pacific Ocean along the coasts of California and Baja California. Its distribution extends from Salt Point in Sonoma County, California, to southern central Baja California, near Cedros Island. It is a very common species; its common name in Spanish is señorita.
Sebastes atrovirens, the kelp rockfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is native to the Pacific Ocean along the coast of California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico.
Sebastes serranoides, the olive rockfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is found in the Eastern Pacific.
The Pacific spiny dogfish is a common species of the Squalidae (dogfish) family of sharks and are among the most abundant species of sharks in the world. This species is closely related to the Spiny dogfish and for many years they were treated as a single species. Recent research, using meristic, morphological and molecular data led to the resurrection of the Pacific spiny dogfish as a separate species. The American Fisheries Society recommends the common name "Pacific spiny dogfish" for Squalus suckleyi over alternatives such as "spotted spiny dogfish" and "North Pacific spiny dogfish" and "spiny dogfish" for Squalus acanthias.
The Shreveport Aquarium is an aquarium located in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States.
The Pacific spiny lumpsucker is a species of bony fish in the family Cyclopteridae.
The Siletz Reef is a large and shallow reef, just offshore the central coast of Oregon. It runs about 1 mile (1.6 km) mile offshore from a southern boundary off Depoe Bay, though some references have it going as far south as Cape Perpetua to a northern boundary off Lincoln City, Oregon, though a northern boundary of Cascade Head is in some references. The reef is rocky and is believed to comprise a few fairly large continuous rock structures and a wide expanse of smaller structures.