Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"High Wire Snacked" — Purple urchins Strongylocentrotus purpuratus march up a bull kelp to feed on tender parts further upfield in Monterey Bay. With a shortening supply of satiating drift algae sloughed off from the thinning kelp groves above, hungry hordes of sea urchins begin to "misbehave", ecologically speaking. Urchins are a natural and important part the North Coast ecosystem, but in their famine-induced feeding frenzy, they overgraze their surrounding reefs, resulting in a "clear-cutting" of the forest if left unchecked by predation. The result is an urchin barren, with coralline algae encrusted rocks and a few remaining invertebrates where lush and diverse kelp forests once grew. July 2021 by Pat Webster @underwaterpat.