Stats

Lifespan: 5-8 yrs
Size: Huge
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate kelp forest
Range: Pacific & Southern Oceans
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Spores
Defense: Toxins
Status: Uncommon

About

Giant kelp forms towering underwater forests along rocky Pacific coastlines, growing as fast as 60 centimetres per day — among the fastest of any organism on Earth. Each frond is studded with small gas-filled bladders that keep the blades buoyed upright toward the sunlit surface.

Life cycle

1.
spore
A microscopic zoospore drifts on the current and settles onto bare rock to take hold.
2.
young blade
A holdfast grips the seafloor as the first blade unfurls and reaches toward the sunlit surface.
3.
mature kelp
Fully grown — a towering frond buoyed by gas bladders, swaying in the kelp-forest canopy.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Chromista
Phylum: Ochrophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Laminariales
Family: Laminariaceae
Genus: Macrocystis
Species: Macrocystis pyrifera