Garden of orbs

  

I don't see this algae very often, but encountered a couple of nice patches recently.

 Meet Derbesia marina, sometimes referred to as Green Sea Grape.

 

 

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.)

Named after a cactus

 

Large waves during the past week have washed lots of seaweed onto the beaches.  Pictured above is Red Opuntia (Opuntiella californica) — named after prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.).  Note the distinctive growth form, with spreading branches of rounded blades.

P.S.  I had no idea — Do you know how many different species of prickly pear cactus can be found in California?  Any guesses?  The answer is: Fifteen!  (There's only one species of Opuntiella in the state.)

Towel, anyone?

We found a very large blade of red algae washed up on the beach a couple of days ago:

 

Although it might be hard to tell from the picture, this algae is known for its texture — it's covered with small bumps or spines.  They're dense, which gives the seaweed a rough texture.  Because of this, someone came up with a distinctive name for it — Turkish Towel.  

This is Chondracanthus.  (My guess is Chondracanthus corymbiferus.)  However, Turkish Towel is often easier to remember!

This towel was so big (you might call it a bath sheet!), Eric thought he'd give it a try:

 

There are over 200 species of seaweeds in the Bodega Bay region.  I'll be trying to highlight more of them this year.