Kelp Forest

Our Kelp Forest exhibit is anchored by real giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera), one of the fastest-growing organisms on Earth — under good light and nutrient flow, a single frond can grow up to two feet in a single day. The 28-foot-tall tank recreates the towering underwater canopy found off the California coast, where golden-orange garibaldi (California’s official state marine fish) patrol their territory and leopard sharks cruise lazily along the sandy floor, their distinctive saddle-shaped markings drifting through the kelp fronds.

Light filters down through the canopy in shifting, dappled patterns, exactly as it does in a real kelp forest — and just like the real thing, this ecosystem needs constant care: our divers hand-trim and thin the kelp several times a week to keep the forest healthy, the same maintenance a wild kelp forest gets for free from grazing sea urchins and fish.