The top of the kelp forest emerges from the surface of the Monterey Bay recently as a pelican wings by a resting paddler near Lighthouse Point in Santa Cruz. Held upright by gas-filled bladders at the base of leaflike blades, kelp fronds grow straight up to the surface toward sunlight, where they spread across the top of the water to form a dense canopy, sometimes towering to a height of 175 feet above the sea floor. Invertebrates graze on the blades, fish seek shelter in the fronds, and thousands of invertebrates live in the rootlike holdfast, including brittle stars, sea stars, anemones, sponges and tunicates. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website, “In California, 100,000 to 170,000 wet tons of kelp are harvested each year. Commercial harvesting in California is highly regulated to protect our kelp forests from improper or over harvesting. Giant kelp is harvested as a source of algin, an emulsifying and binding agent used in the production of many foods and cosmetics, like ice cream, cereal and toothpaste.”
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