Weird little dots
December 30, 2015 3:07 PM Subscribe
Can you identify this interesting orange and black lichen? Is it a lichen? Is it two?
It was all over the place! What fascinated me about it was that the orange specks and black specks never overlapped but stayed within their own little districts.
This was on the California coast near Gualala, on some rocks right by the ocean. The spot seemed to get a lot of spray but was probably a good 30 feet above the water at high tide.
It was all over the place! What fascinated me about it was that the orange specks and black specks never overlapped but stayed within their own little districts.
This was on the California coast near Gualala, on some rocks right by the ocean. The spot seemed to get a lot of spray but was probably a good 30 feet above the water at high tide.
Response by poster: WOW barchan. Now I have a go-to site for identifying lichens! This is so exciting!! The black one seems to be a pimple-crust of some description (perhaps a Polyblastia?) while the orange one looks like some of the Candelariella, although none of them are orange enough. It could be one of the buttons, too, maybe a Caloplaca?
posted by theodolite at 4:12 PM on December 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 4:12 PM on December 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
This is so exciting!!
Heh, I know! Lichens are so cool, they provide so much info about their habitat - light, water, elevation, latitude, minerals, health; they're just the most lovely thing, I can get lost in them for hours.
Also, the lichen people on those sites are real friendly and happy to help out if you have any questions, which I forgot to mention.
I warn you, though, every time I feel puffed with excellence about my skills as a lichen identifier, I go out in the real world and promptly get my ego smashed. Jamaro's comment is a good reminder about that - what if they are just algae?
posted by barchan at 9:11 AM on December 31, 2015
Heh, I know! Lichens are so cool, they provide so much info about their habitat - light, water, elevation, latitude, minerals, health; they're just the most lovely thing, I can get lost in them for hours.
Also, the lichen people on those sites are real friendly and happy to help out if you have any questions, which I forgot to mention.
I warn you, though, every time I feel puffed with excellence about my skills as a lichen identifier, I go out in the real world and promptly get my ego smashed. Jamaro's comment is a good reminder about that - what if they are just algae?
posted by barchan at 9:11 AM on December 31, 2015
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Also, just at a glance you've got a lot of silicates in there, so you might have a silicate loving lichen versus the more calcite loving ones (although don't get hemmed in by that).
(on preview - unless they are just algae, but remember lichen are 2 organisms - fungi and algae)
posted by barchan at 3:25 PM on December 30, 2015 [23 favorites]