Hundred-foot tall forests of algae (in this case, kelp) in Antarctica?? Criminy! It’s long been known that polar waters can be very productive where nutrients are brought to the surface by upwelling. But kelp forests? Which were formerly chiefly known (to the public) from California coastal waters? Cool! The kelp in the California version of these forests are known for their lightning-fast growth, in which they can solder on up to a foot and a half of new algae per day, reaching over 100 foot in length. Sea urchins then delight in chewing these things off at the root, setting the mighty fronds adrift after all that hard work. Whether they’re capable of those growth rates in the bone- and cell wall-chilling waters of Antarctica, I have no idea. Though I’m sure the algae would love to have heater packs for their blades (can’t call them leaves — only plants have leaves), too. : )

These specimens appear to be brown algae (Class Phaeophyceae), again in the Heterokonts/Stramenopiles, with the tinsel and whiplash flagella on their mobile cells we discussed two posts ago. Brown algae get their characteristic color from one of their photosynthetic pigments — fucoxanthin — though they also possess chlorophylls a and c (true plants have chlorophyll a and b). They also serve as proof that some protists can form complex multicellular organisms. Though they don’t have true roots, leaves, or vascular tissue(as far as I know) like “real” plants, they do have groups of specialized cells (aka tissues) like us “higher” animals, plants, and fungi. Though if you think about it, we all descended from protists at some point, so it should be no surprise. Social cell collectives (aka multicellular organisms) probably evolved many times from loner cells, though whether they all eventually go on to drop out of the ecosystem, grow their flagella out, and hang Grateful Dead posters everywhere is still a question for science.