'Intertidal Walks': Come, take a stroll on Vizag beach to explore rich marine life

Visakhapatnam: Isn't it fun for the children to walk in low tides and find colourful marine species which they haven't seen before? For all those who think marine life can be only visible during scuba, a team of Visakhapatnam based startup-WildEd, in collaboration with East Coast Conservation Team (ECCT), is surprising children in the city with 'Intertidal Walks' in Visakhapatnam beach.

These intertidal walks near YMCA, Tenneti beach, and beach spots with low tides are to explore the different types of ecosystems. A small group of children and adults are taken to walk through the rocky shores of the beach. While exploring the species, they are educated, take photos, and keep a note of their exploration.

The teams teach the children about the importance of marine conservation and record flora and fauna of lesser-studied marine ecosystems from the region.

"During low tides, we take the group and explore the shore. Low tides are accessible to explore marine life. There is fantastic marine life like sea stars, anemones, barnacles, various algae, hermit crabs, gastropods, snapping shrimps, swimming crabs, sponges, hydroids, sea slugs, and rock urchins. All of this marine life is very accessible to watch, but it's just that many of them do not notice them," said Vimal Raj, Nature Educator and Founder at WildEd.

Over the past one year, the teams have been documented more than 150 species along Visakhapatnam's coast. The spotted species are posted in Inaturalist- a citizen platform used worldwide.

Some of the species are 'Nudibranchs' species, commonly known as sea slugs. These do not have shells, and their gills are exposed. The nudibranchs are usually found in coral reefs.

Another peculiar brownish blob with black and white speckling, two more species of sap-sucking sea slugs from genus Elysia. These sap-sucking sea slugs are photosynthetic creatures in the world. These snails not only drink sap from algae but also can store chloroplast from the algae in their skin and do photosynthesis in the absence of food.

Intertidal Walks

Date: April 2

Place: YMCA opp, 10.30 am

Date: April 23

Place: Tenneti Beach, 3.30 pm.

Nocturnal Walk

Another exciting activity by WildEd is a nocturnal walk in the Simahchalam region at night. Not many really explore the nightlife to see the creatures. The team takes groups to spot different kinds of spiders, snakes, praying mantis, owls and bats.

"There are many creatures which we can look closely at. We wanted to promote exploring the wilderness for two hours at night. We hold torch lights and look into creatures, document them", said Vimal.

When asked how safe it is, Vimal, a Wilderness First Responder, said, "We make sure untoward incidents do not occur. Nothing bites if we don't meddle with it. The main objective of the walk is to create a concept of co-existence with insects or reptiles. Infact, we don't disturb the creatures during our walk".

Nocturnal Walk

Date: April 1

Place: Simhachalam, 5.30 pm

To Register: WhatsApp- 7330880274