In the morning sun

 

Pyropia gardneri, a pretty little red seaweed that grows on the blades of kelps.  In our area, it's often found on Laminaria setchellii (see the brown blade at the bottom of the photo).  It's fun that the two seaweeds involved are named after important phycologists — William Albert Setchell and Nathaniel Lyon Gardner — who made significant contributions to our knowledge and appreciation of West Coast seaweeds and were instrumental in establishing and curating the University Herbarium.  (Both were professors at UC Berkeley in the early 1900s.)

Blades in the water

Southern Stiff-stiped Kelp (Laminaria setchellii)

 

Name that Holdfast - Part 2

Those of you who were reading the blog last spring might remember the Name that Holdfast game.  Here's a new addition.

If you haven't played before, below is the holdfast of a local marine alga — can you guess which species?  This one is from Pinnacle Gulch on 26 June 2013.  [Warning: The answer is directly below the image.]

 

And the answer is:  Laminaria sinclairii !

This is a wonderful kelp.  I neglected to take pictures of the entire seaweed this morning, so here are a few from the past.  The next two photos are from Bodega Head.

Laminaria sinclairii has long narrow blades in a very deep brown color:

 

This kelp is unusual in that it's rhizomatous, so it can grow in very dense patches.  Below it's covering the larger boulders on the left side of the image.

 

P.S.  Thanks to Peter for pointing out the nice holdfast arrangement this morning!