Underwater Forest

From the outside, it doesn't look like much...

But down below, it's a beautiful surreal forest.


These little "bladders" are filled with air and help keep the kelp upright.

Kelp forests occur in cold, nutrient-rich water and are among the most beautiful and biologically productive habitats in the marine environment. They are found throughout the world in shallow open coastal waters, and have a capacity for some of the most remarkable growth rates in the plant kingdom. In southern California, the Macrocystis can grow 30 cm per day.

Would you like to see it live?
Here's a link to the "kelp cam". Check it out, it's really cool.

"I can only compare these great aquatic forests...with the terrestrial ones in the intertropical regions. Yet if in any country a forest was destroyed, I do not believe so nearly so many species of animals would perish as would here, from the destruction of kelp. Amidst the leaves of this plant numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else could find food or shelter; with their destruction the many cormorants and other fishing birds, the otters, seals and porpoise, would soon perish also; and lastly, the Fuegian[s]... would... decrease in numbers and perhaps cease to exist. ” —Charles Darwin, 1 June 1834, Tierra del Fuego, Chili

Posted in Nature , underwater