Giant kelp in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, California
© Brandon Cole Images/Shutterstoc
Sequoias of the sea. Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
All along the Pacific Coast of North America, giant stands of kelp up to 100 feet high, like this one in California's Channel Islands, provide habitat for a vast number of fish, invertebrates, and sea mammals. Giant kelp, technically a type of brown algae, is the largest of all seaweed and one of the fastest-growing of any organism—as much as two feet per day! The gas-filled pods you see in this image help the kelp float. Like the trees in the Amazon, the kelp forests of our oceans are key to the health of marine life and our oceans.
Related Images
Abstract motion blur of aspen trees in Kluane National Park, Yukon
A carving of artist W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp in the Pura Meduwe Karang temple in Bali, Indonesia
Street art from the Pasadena Chalk Festival 2013, Pasadena, California
The Lush Rainforest of Cathedral Grove, Macmillan Provincial Park, B.C.
Mars Express image of the icy cap at Mars’ south pole
Blue walls of Chefchaouen, Morocco
Members of the Wild Red Flame Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans, Louisiana
The National Wallace Monument overlooking Stirling in Scotland
Bing Today Images
Vale of Clwyd, Wales
Jan 13, 2026
Road to Hana, Maui, Hawaii
Jan 13, 2024
Cape Spear Lighthouse near St. John’s, Newfoundland
Jan 13, 2018
