In to the Deep, Produced by Graeme Gerguson, Directed by Howard Hall. It's an IMAX Presentation.  
 
  What Eats Kelp?

Many animals find kelp tasty and tender. Turban snails and some sea slugs (nudibranchs) graze on stipes while kelp bass and sea hares feed at the base. Opaleyes and half moon perch nibble on juvenile and adult plants. If not gobbled up by urchins and abalone, bits of drift kelp washed into inshore waters or deep submarine canyons may become part of another marine food chain.

 
 
  There are several species or types of kelps. The best known species is giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera). It grows in the cold waters off the western coasts of North America and South America.

  
 
Kelps : A Natural Resource
 
The kelps forest is an important and comparatively accessible natural resource. It has recreational and commercial value to people. However, many natural and human-induced environmental changes threaten this vital marine community. Although new technologies have enabled scientists to study the kelp community, we still have much to learn about this last wilderness.
  
 
  Because they attract and sustain a large, diverse marine community, kelp forests are important sport and commercial fisheries. This key habitat supplies our dinner tables with rock fishes, kelp bass, perch, croaker, halibut and shellfish (spiny lobster, rock scallops and abalone.).

 
Kelp forests are also favorite recreational diving sites. Scuba divers and snorkelers who brave the chilly waters can explore a fascinating underwater wilderness.  

 
  Near the coast, kelp forests act as natural breakwaters. They help protect beaches from erosion by reducing the intensity of incoming ocean waves.
 
People have gathered kelp for centuries. The plant has been used as animal feed, fertilizer and a source of iodine. The Coastal Indians of British Columbia plaited together kelp stipes to make nets, ropes, fishing and harpoon lines. Chemicals from kelp were used at one time to make glass and soap. During World War 1, potash and acetone were processed from kelp to manufacture explosives. Today kelp is an important source of algin.
  
 
  Competing for a foothold at the bottom, corals, anemones, sponges and other sessile animals carpet every available inch of hard surface. Here, male garabaldis make nests of red algae and invite females to lay their eggs. The holdfast's tangled tendrils furnish hiding places for tiny crabs, worms, urchins, mussels, clams, brittle stars and baby octopi. Bottom-dwelling rockfishes, moray eels and scorpion fish feed on these invertebrates and smaller fish.
 
And the only place in the world to find algin is in the brown algae, kelp!
  
 
    Back to activity homepage  
    How do Kelps reproduce?  
    Where in the world?  
    Plants of the Ocean Forest  
    A Community beneath  
 
 
   
 

Key Concepts :

· Kelp forests are vital commercial and recreational sites. They provide use with many economically important fin fishes and shellfish.

· Kelp is an important renewable resource. Algin, an extract from kelp, is used in hundred of products.

· Natural environmental changes continually threaten kelp forests, Human activities also have directly and indirectly affected this marine community.

· Kelp forests are the focus of ongoing research. Recent advances in technology have enabled scientists to explore and study kelp communities.