Kelp Project Species Identification

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Species Sampled in Quadrats | Invasive Species

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Species Sampled in Band Transects

 

Abalone Batstar
Black_crowned_seaurchin
Giant Kelp Adult
Macrocystis pyrifera
brown alga attached by holdfast
size: up to 30 m (100 ft)
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  Warty Sea Cucumber
Parastichopus parvimensis
soft cylindrical orange-brown body
with pointy projections
size: up to 25 cm (10 in)
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Bat Star
Asterina miniata
Webbed 5-arm shape, solid or mottled colors
(red, orange, yellow, brown, green, purple)
size: up to 20 cm (8 in)
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Cystoseira Giant-kelp-(adult)
Giant-keyhole-limpet
Giant Spined Star
Pisaster giganteus
5-arm shape, covered with white spines
with blue bumps
size: up to 50 cm (20 in)
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Sheep Crab
Loxorhynchus grandis
large, slow moving crab with long legs
size: carapace up to 15 cm (6 in),
leg span up to 45 cm (18 in)
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California Spiny Lobster
Panulirus interruptus
look for long antennae
sticking out of crevices
size: up to 60 cm (2 ft)
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Cystoseira Cystoseira Cystoseira

Giant Keyhole Limpet
Megthura crenulata
shell can be covered by soft body (mantle),
“keyhole” on top of shell
size: up to 13 cm (5 in)
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Rock Scallop
Crassedoma giganteum
look for slit with orange or gray body
and small tentacles, very cryptic
size: up to 20 cm (8 in)
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Abalone
Haliotis sp.
holes on edge of shell, very cryptic,
can be covered with algae
size: up to 30 cm (12 in)
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The Kelp Project also looks for and records all other notable species encountered during sampling.

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Species Sampled in Quadrats | Invasive Species

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Special thanks to volunteer diver Ian Craig for donating his pictures!