The Natural History of Bodega Head

    Juvenile Sea Palm ( Postelsia palmaeformis ) in the rocky intertidal zone on 18 April 2022.

     Juvenile Winged Kelp ( Alaria marginata ), photographed on 2 Jannuary 2022.

Wow, the Sea Palm ( Postelsia palmaeformis ) was really tall in Mendocino County this year!  Here's a photo of Eric making his way throu...

Last night (9 March 2020), while I was doing a survey in the rocky intertidal zone, an interesting little brown seaweed caught my eye.  I ha...

  A small section of Feather Boa Kelp ( Egregia menziesii ) showing the floats (pneumatocysts) and lateral blades.  When I picked up th...

  Another beautiful view of dense kelp in the low intertidal zone on the Mendocino coast — this one is Winged Kelp ( Alaria marginata ...

  While working in Mendocino County this weekend we noticed many of the low intertidal kelps looked very healthy.  This is a beautiful...

Several days ago, I came across an interesting Bull Kelp ( Nereocystis luetkeana ) specimen washed up on the beach.  Instead of being narrow...

Old gold:   Five-ribbed Kelp ( Costaria costata ), Mendocino coast, 2 May 2017 Green gold:     Fish embryos, Sonoma c...

It's so nice to see more kelp around this year.   This seemed like a pretty large specimen of Bull Kelp ( Nereocystis luetkeana )...

  Bull Kelp is a very large alga when full grown — the stipe (stem) alone can reach a length of ~36 meters (~118 feet!), and the pneum...

It's been a rough couple of years for some of the local kelps.  They've struggled with the warmer ocean temperatures of 2014 and 201...