Overturned Shelter

During the breeding season, male plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus) build nests under rocky shelters along the intertidal and subtidal zones of the western coast of the United States and Canada. Shown here in the foreground is an overturned rock of one of these shelters during the early morning hours in Tomales Bay, CA.. The roof of this nest, which is the bottom of the rock, is covered with a single layer of eggs that has been deposited by several females in the nest of a parental male. The eggs are attached to the rock by an adhesive disk at the base of egg.

Copyright © 1998 Margaret Marchaterre.
For permission to publish, please contact the photographer at 607-254-4373; Email mm43@cornell.edu.