Good old google and wikipedia

Yesterday I was walking on the beach during a very low tide and noticed the the rocks at PB point were exposed. I decided to go and investigate them, firstly to triangulate them so they can be avoided whilst surfing but also to have a look at the rock pools (tidal pools I think is the term used here). When I approached one pool I saw something that looked a bit like this. And when I disturbed it, more red stuff came out.

From seaslugforum.net

In the same pool was something that looked like this, and which curled up when I picked it up.

From kentsimmons.uwinnipeg.ca/

So, when I got home I googled "california tidal pools red ink" and "california tidal pools "segmented shell"" and found out that the first thing is a Sea Hare that excretes ink as a defense mechanism, and the second is a Chiton. Of course, I could then plug this information into Wikipedia and learn almost all I could possibly desire about said creatures. It turns out that Sea Hares were used for a lot of the pioneering work on prion proteins.

Sea Hare from Nature.com

See, the internet is not just for looking at pictures of people without their clothes on!