Sugar Kelp (Saccharina latissima)

Description: Sugar kelp has a short stem leading to a long, wide blade that’s full of wrinkles. Each blade can be up to 5 m long and 25 cm wide! Their color ranges from yellow-brown to dark brown.

Habitat: They live attached to rocks, pilings, or other hard surfaces from the low intertidal to depths of about 30 m. They range throughout the Pacific Ocean from Alaska through California and across to Japan. They also extend into the Arctic Ocean from Russia and even south to New Jersey on the Atlantic side.

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• Sugar kelp gets its name from a sugar alcohol it produces, giving it a sweet taste. This has lead to it being frequently cultivated (especially in Asia) and used in food and beauty products. It’s also high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

• Thanks to their fast growth and cultivation uses, sugar kelp growth helps mitigate against climate change and ocean acidification by removing excess nutrients and carbon dioxide from the water.

References: NOAA, The New Beachcomber’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest by J Duane Sept