O
f all the vast ocean, the narrow fringe that is the
intertidalzone
is by far the best knownto marine biologists and laypersons alike. The reason is simple: The intertidal is theonly part of the marine world that we canexperience firsthand without leaving ourown natural element. We don’t need aboat to visit the shore, and, at least at low tide, we can see it without a face mask and move through it without swim fins.Perhaps more important from the scien-tist’s point of view, we can work in theintertidal without cumbersome and ex-pensive equipment and can easily returnto the exact same place time after time