Sometimes, especially at the seashore, I come across things which I have no idea about what it may be. Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J47sGOqvNK4
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You id it as animalia, which this likely is (not very clear from video for me), or life if you have no idea at all.
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In California there’s a project I can add things to, even without adding an ID, or I know a few people to tag.
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Yeah I like working out what odd things are. Most of time I can narrow down marine life to phyla level, or family-species level if molluscs.
@teellbee It would be good to tag any big users who like communication, so they’ll probably know who to tag.
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I might have solved the mystery. See my comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/140026715
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Oh, and what cool stories that group has! Including a poem by Thoreau and a role in ending the saga of Erik the Red. : https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/196239-Teredinidae
Thank you!
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State of Matter Life exists for a reason. It can suck to use it, but when you’re there it might also be worth it to @ mention someone who you know has expertise in that area of environment, e.g., tide pools.
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You know, I have not been in the habit of tagging others, but that turned out to be good advice. I will certainly consider doing that more often going forward - at least for the observations like this one that really intrigued me.
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I often do plant surveys, and need to list neighboring spp. I’ve tried many apps suggested by my peers, most disappointing. But one that often nailed it exactly was called Lens, a part of my phone photo setup (I don’t remember adding it! might be Microsoft-sourced, on an Android phone). You take the photo, select a Lens search (need internet access) and it will keep suggesting until you drill down on one. Best part: you can crop the photo for it to focus on the most important features.
Latest success: it told me something I thought taken in my garden was an immature form of a rare endangered plant-- checked back, the photo was taken in the precise spot where we failed to find the beautiful mature form.
There’s a fireworks display of photo identifiers out there! What I like about Lens is that it often suggests outliers I hadn’t considered. Let’s say it’s a slime mold or lichen in question-- be sure the photo shows the surroundings, recognizable on a branch or rock. For leaves, be close enough to show serrated/not and veining.
And then you can track life populations in a similar biome for suggestions-- unending forensic fun.
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Lens capabilities sound very useful.
I looked into it today, and see it is a Google extension. So, Google requires access to the Camera app; not just selected photos. That makes me uneasy, even though I realize Google likely already knows exponentially more about me and my biz than all the people who have ever known me combined.
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