![]() ![]() ![]() Laminaria hyperborea, also known as cuvie kelp, grows in deeper waters and can grow taller than the average human, it is the main forest-forming kelp in Scotland and only visible at the lowest tides. Laminaria digitata is the main kelp seen along the shores and coastline, growing in a narrow band around low water. The two most abundant kelp species are Laminaria digitata and Laminaria hyperborea: In many ways, kelp forests can be considered the Scottish equivalent of tropical coral reefs. Kelp forests are also thought to provide some coasts with a degree of protection from storms, by absorbing some of the energy of the waves. Kelp forests provide an important habitat for and support a wide range of other marine life including otters, fish, urchins, limpets, red seaweeds, and soft corals. They are topped with palm-like fronds which vary in shape depending on the species, from long and strap shaped to split into several lobes. ![]() Instead of stems, kelp has a stiff stipe that holds them upwards towards the sunlight. The holdfast is visually similar to the roots of a plant, but doesn’t penetrate the seabed or draw nutrients from it in the same way as land plants. Kelp grows on the rocky seabed – it has a structure called a holdfast which grips onto rocks on the seabed. There are 5 species of kelp native to Scotland – Laminaria digitata, Laminaria hyperborea, Saccharina latissima, Saccorhiza polyschides, and Alaria esculenta. Kelp is a large brown seaweed that grows on rocks, from the low tide down to deeper waters. One of the most abundant and widely harvested types of seaweed, and one which has a lot of potential as a sustainable material, is kelp. Scotland provides a home to a wide variety of seaweed species, with different species thriving in different coastal areas. Photo and copyright: “Kelp” by Buzz Hoffman is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ![]()
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