Feather Boa Kelp (Egregia menziesii)

Description: Feather boa kelp ranges in color from olive green to dark brown. It has a long, thick main blade lined with many small ribbon-like blades and balloon-like floats. It’s named for these decorations down its edge giving it a feather boa appearance. This kelp can be up to 10 m long! With its long length and floats keeping it upright in the water, they have a large holdfast keeping them attached to rocks.

Habitat: Feather boa kelp lives attached to rocks from the mid intertidal down to depths of 20 m. They are found as far north as British Columbia, Canada and as far south as Baja California, Mexico.

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• Farmers in coastal areas have been known to use this kelp as a natural fertilizer.

Reference: The New Beachcomber’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest by J Duane Sept