There are more than 7,000 kinds of seaweed.  Mostly all of it is algae.  Seaweed is very useful.  Many kinds of seaweed are rich in vitamins and minerals and are eaten in many parts of the world.  Seaweed is used in many products such as lipsticks, soaps, photographic film, paint, varnish, and buttons.

   This purplish-red type of seaweed is often found in the low tide zone.  One main stalk comes up through several branches, and mature branches resemble cups and saucers stacked on top of each other.  The main stalk is usually 1 to 2 inches wide and the blades span up to 2 to 3 inches wide.

     This large brown seaweed is commonly seen from the shore during low tide. Bull Kelp forms a forest just offshore, where beach hoppers, and other small scavengers get caught in its long tangles.

     Found in quiet waters, Eelgrass beds are spawning and nursery areas for many species of fish and invertebrates.  Both male and female blooms of the plant occur in the same cluster.

     A distinctive dark-brown kelp with a profusely branched holdfast.  Its rigid stem then becomes flexible and widens out into a smooth broad blade that then seperates into thin strips.  The split kelp can reach a height of about 5 feet with the blades being about 6 to 8 inches wide and 20 to 24 inches long.