Have you ever wandered local beaches and found six-foot long seaweed? Did you wonder what it was? This seaweed is called bull kelp and is common to the Washington coast and Puget Sound. It grows on rocky shores and can form huge kelp forests that provide habitat for crabs, sea stars, juvenile salmon, rockfish and many other animals. Growing up to two feet per day, bull kelp is the fastest growing seaweed in the world, changing from a small spore into a 200-foot long kelp in just one summer! However, in the protected waters of Puget Sound, bull kelp typically reaches lengths of 30 feet. After reaching its maximum height at the end of summer, the kelp dies in the fall and begins a new growing season in the spring.
Viewer Tip: When out boating or walking the beaches this summer, be on the lookout for beds of bull kelp. The kelp beds will not only indicate areas of shallow water with rocks and reefs that should be avoided by boats, but they are also a great place to see resting shorebirds, herons, gulls, seals and other animals who take advantage of the refuge created by these kelp forests.
Season: Summer
(Sources: Washington Department of Ecology, http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/pugetsound/species/kelp.html; Whatcom County Marine Life Fact Sheet, http://www.whatcom-mrc.whatcomcounty.org/Fact_Sheets/bull_kelp.htm;
Monterey Bay Aquarium; http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/AnimalDetails.aspx?id=779433)
