The Beauty of an Underwater Kelp Forest

The photograph above looks like a concept photo for a science fiction vision of an alien planet, reminiscent of a Yes album cover. But this is our planet. The sculpture in the foreground is kelp, also known as brown algae. We call it seaweed, but it's not exactly a plant. It doesn't look like much when we see it washed up on the shore, yet underwater it grows in glorious forests, waving with the tidal flow, providing food and habitat to myriad species.

​Douglas Klug is a nature photographer and scuba diver. He combines those activities to bring us a fish's eye view of kelp forests, hoping to highlight the seaweed's crucial role in keep the ocean ecosystem healthy. Besides sheltering marine creatures, kelp is also an important carbon sink. And it is quite beautiful thriving in the ocean. Read about kelp and underwater photography, and see more of Klug's kelp images at Colossal.