Atlas8 min read
The Alaska Peninsula: Where Two Seas Collide over Kelp
An 800-km volcanic chain between the North Pacific and the Bering Sea — passes, salmon rivers, cold kelp forests on one side, sand on the other.
Jack Callum ·
#north-pacific
21 articles
Encyclopedia7 min read
Black Rockfish (Sebastes melanops): The Kelp Edge's Common Schooler
Black rockfish: the dark, schooling Sebastes of northeast Pacific kelp edges — identification vs blue rockfish, life history, fishery and conservation.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia9 min read
Dall's Porpoise: The Fastest Small Cetacean in the Kelp Latitudes
Dall's porpoise is the slate-and-white speedster of the cold North Pacific, famous for its rooster-tail splash. Biology, range, speed and how to spot one.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Great Sculpin (Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus): The Big Head of the Northern Reef
Profile of the great sculpin — one of the largest sculpins of the North Pacific, its spiny head, ambush hunting and role in cold kelp-edge food webs.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia7 min read
Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus): The Painted Diver of the Kelp Surf Zone
Meet the harlequin duck: slate-blue plumage, winter life in the surf zone, and summers on wild mountain rivers. Identification, ecology and where to look.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas11 min read
Kamchatka: Kelp Forests on the Pacific's Wild Far Shore
A coastal atlas guide to Kamchatka's kelp forests: volcanic coasts, otter-held reefs, salmon-fed waters, and one of the least-disturbed kelp ecosystems on Earth.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas8 min read
The Kuril Islands: Kelp Forests on the Pacific's Fiercest Arc
Volcanoes, fog and the cold Oyashio — a guide to the kelp forests of the Kuril Islands, among the least-disturbed seaweed coasts left on Earth.
Tom Okafor ·
Encyclopedia7 min read
Northern Fur Seal (Callorhinus ursinus): The Oceangoing Seal That Visits the Kelp Coast
Northern fur seals spend most of their lives far offshore, then crowd onto island beaches to breed. Range, deep diving, the fur trade's shadow and recovery.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia7 min read
Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata): The Horn-Billed Seabird of Kelp-Coast Colonies
The rhinoceros auklet: the puffin's burrowing cousin with a bill 'horn', night-time colony returns, and fish-laden commutes over kelp-rich shelf water.
Tom Okafor ·
Encyclopedia9 min read
Sea Cabbage: Hedophyllum, the Hand-Size Kelp of the Low Shore
Sea cabbage (Hedophyllum sessile) is a tough, leathery kelp of the wave-washed low intertidal. Its biology, range, ecology and how to identify it on the shore.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia10 min read
Steller Sea Lion: The Tonne of Muscle Above the Kelp Line
The Steller sea lion is the largest of the eared seals — a tonne of muscle-hauling out beside North Pacific kelp forests. Its biology, range and hard-won recovery.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas10 min read
The Aleutian Islands: Where Science Learned What Otters Are For
A 1,900-kilometre arc of volcano, fog and kelp strung between Alaska and Siberia — the coastline that taught ecologists how sea otters hold kelp forests together.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas10 min read
Haida Gwaii: Kelp Forests at the Edge of the Continent
Ninety kilometres of black ocean off northern British Columbia, an archipelago of giant kelp, ancient villages and Haida co-management — kelp country at its most sovereign.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas9 min read
The Aleutian Islands: The Wildest Kelp Frontier in the Pacific
A Coastal Atlas field guide to the Aleutians — the Pacific's most remote great kelp forest, its weather, its war, and how to get there.
Jack Callum ·
Encyclopedia7 min read
Painted Anemone (Urticina crassicornis): A Cold-Water Polyp in Living Colour
Urticina crassicornis, the painted or Christmas anemone of North Pacific kelp reefs: identification, diet, reproduction and its place in the cold-water forest.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Sailfin Sculpin: The Kelp Forest Fish That Waves a Flag Fin
The sailfin sculpin is a banded-eye, flag-finned reef fish of the North Pacific — famous for the courtship wave of its tall sail-like first dorsal fin.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Mosshead Warbonnet: The Eel-Like Hider of Rocky Reefs
The mosshead warbonnet is a moss-fringed, eel-like prickleback of North Pacific reefs — a shy, hole-loving specialist of kelp-bed cracks and crevices.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Brown Irish Lord: The Red-Bellied Sculpin of Cold Reefs
The brown Irish lord is a spiny, red-bellied sculpin of North Pacific reefs — a camouflaged ambush hunter of crabs and shrimps from Alaska to California.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Tidepool Sculpin: The Small Fish Built for Hard Times
Meet the tidepool sculpin, the Pacific's toughest little fish: how it survives heat, low oxygen and hours out of water — and finds its way home.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Pigeon Guillemot: The Red-Footed Diver of the Kelp Coast
Meet the pigeon guillemot: the black-and-white auk with scarlet feet that nests in shoreline crevices and hunts sculpins through kelp beds.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Encyclopedia8 min read
Tufted Puffin: The Kelp Coast's Most Photogenic Fisher
Meet the tufted puffin: golden head-plumes, burrow colonies and deep kelp-coast dives. Where to see it, what it eats, and why its southern range is shrinking.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·