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Kelp frond showing pneumatocysts.
Image ID: 00627
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | A kelp forest, with sunbeams passing through kelp fronds. Giant kelp, the fastest growing plant on Earth, reaches from the rocky bottom to the ocean's surface like a terrestrial forest.
Image ID: 02411
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | A SCUBA diver swims through a giant kelp forest which is tilted back by strong ocean currents. Giant kelp, the fastest plant on Earth, reaches from the rocky bottom to the ocean's surface like a submarine forest.
Image ID: 01107
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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California sea lions swim and socialize over a kelp-covered rocky reef, underwater at San Clemente Island in California's southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 02158
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | A SCUBA diver swimming over a rocky reef covered with kelp, watches a brightly colored orange garibaldi fish.
Image ID: 01113
Species: Garibaldi, Hypsypops rubicundus
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Surf grass on the rocky reef -- appearing blurred in this time exposure -- is tossed back and forth by powerful ocean waves passing by above. San Clemente Island.
Image ID: 10237
Species: Surfgrass, Phyllospadix
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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Bryozoan grows on a red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 25395
Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 25393
Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | San Clemente Island Pyramid Head, the distinctive pyramid shaped southern end of the island.
Image ID: 26003
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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California sea lions swim and socialize over a kelp-covered rocky reef, underwater at San Clemente Island in California's southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 02031
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | California sea lions swim and socialize over a kelp-covered rocky reef, underwater at San Clemente Island in California's southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 02159
Species: California sea lion, Zalophus californianus
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 25394
Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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Kelp fronds and pneumatocysts. Pneumatocysts, gas-filled bladders, float the kelp plant off the ocean bottom toward the surface and sunlight, where the leaf-like blades and stipes of the kelp plant grow fastest. Giant kelp can grow up to 2' in a single day given optimal conditions. Epic submarine forests of kelp grow throughout California's Southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 25396
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Giant kelp, blades, stipes and pneumatocysts, backlit by the sun in shallow water.
Image ID: 25401
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | A leopard shark, swimming through the shallows waters of a California reef, underwater.
Image ID: 25417
Species: Leopard shark, Triakis semifasciata
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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Boat Horizon above kelp forest.
Image ID: 03764
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Red gorgonian polyps. The red gorgonian is a colonial organism composed of thousands of tiny polyps. Each polyp secretes calcium which accumulates to form the structure of the colony. The fan-shaped gorgonian is oriented perpendicular to prevailing ocean currents to better enable to filter-feeding polyps to capture passing plankton and detritus passing by.
Image ID: 03480
Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 23420
Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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California golden gorgonian and small juvenile sheephead fishes on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The golden gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Each individual polyp is a distinct animal, together they secrete calcium that forms the structure of the colony. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 23421
Species: California golden gorgonian, Muricea californica, Semicossyphus pulcher
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Kelp fronds and pneumatocysts. Pneumatocysts, gas-filled bladders, float the kelp plant off the ocean bottom toward the surface and sunlight, where the leaf-like blades and stipes of the kelp plant grow fastest. Giant kelp can grow up to 2' in a single day given optimal conditions. Epic submarine forests of kelp grow throughout California's Southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 23424
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 23425
Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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Giant kelp plants lean over in ocean currents, underwater. Individual kelp plants grow from the rocky reef, to which they are attached, up to the ocean surface and form a vibrant community in which fishes, mammals and invertebrates thrive.
Image ID: 23426
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | A kelp forest. Giant kelp grows rapidly, up to 2' per day, from the rocky reef on the ocean bottom to which it is anchored, toward the ocean surface where it spreads to form a thick canopy. Myriad species of fishes, mammals and invertebrates form a rich community in the kelp forest. Lush forests of kelp are found through California's Southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 23428
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Kelp fronds and pneumatocysts. Pneumatocysts, gas-filled bladders, float the kelp plant off the ocean bottom toward the surface and sunlight, where the leaf-like blades and stipes of the kelp plant grow fastest. Giant kelp can grow up to 2' in a single day given optimal conditions. Epic submarine forests of kelp grow throughout California's Southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 23430
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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Red gorgonian on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. The red gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 23431
Species: Red gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | California golden gorgonian on rocky reef, underwater. The golden gorgonian is a filter-feeding temperate colonial species that lives on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Each individual polyp is a distinct animal, together they secrete calcium that forms the structure of the colony. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 25397
Species: California golden gorgonian, Muricea californica
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Brown gorgonians on rocky reef, below kelp forest, underwater. Gorgonians are filter-feeding temperate colonial species that live on the rocky bottom at depths between 50 to 200 feet deep. Each individual polyp is a distinct animal, together they secrete calcium that forms the structure of the colony. Gorgonians are oriented at right angles to prevailing water currents to capture plankton drifting by.
Image ID: 25398
Species: Brown gorgonian, Muricea fruticosa
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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Kelp fronds and pneumatocysts. Pneumatocysts, gas-filled bladders, float the kelp plant off the ocean bottom toward the surface and sunlight, where the leaf-like blades and stipes of the kelp plant grow fastest. Giant kelp can grow up to 2' in a single day given optimal conditions. Epic submarine forests of kelp grow throughout California's Southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 25399
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | A view of an underwater forest of giant kelp. Giant kelp grows rapidly, up to 2' per day, from the rocky reef on the ocean bottom to which it is anchored, toward the ocean surface where it spreads to form a thick canopy. Myriad species of fishes, mammals and invertebrates form a rich community in the kelp forest. Lush forests of kelp are found through California's Southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 25400
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA | Kelp fronds and pneumatocysts. Pneumatocysts, gas-filled bladders, float the kelp plant off the ocean bottom toward the surface and sunlight, where the leaf-like blades and stipes of the kelp plant grow fastest. Giant kelp can grow up to 2' in a single day given optimal conditions. Epic submarine forests of kelp grow throughout California's Southern Channel Islands.
Image ID: 25403
Species: Giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera
Location: San Clemente Island, California, USA |
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