Kelp Forests Are Among the Most Diverse Places in the Ocean

Coral reefs get most of the attention, but NOAA’s National Ocean Service gives kelp forests a remarkable rating: they harbor a greater variety and higher diversity of plants and animals than almost any other ocean community. Kelp are large brown algae that grow in dense groupings in cool, shallow water close to shore, much like a forest on land. These underwater towers provide food and shelter for thousands of species of fish, invertebrates and marine mammals. Visitors come from above the water too. NOAA lists seals, sea lions, whales, sea otters, gulls, terns, snowy egrets, great blue herons, cormorants and shore birds among the animals that use kelp forests for protection or feeding. The forests change with the seasons. Storms can tear and dislodge the kelp in winter, leaving a tattered forest that grows again each spring.