Biodiversity

Morro Bay's kelp forest has a very rich biodiversity with lots of flora and fauna. Morro Bay is mostly known for its abundance in sea otters with around 13,000 to 20,000 sea otters. 53 of those otters were counted in the Morro Bay estuary. Here are the most commonly seen flora and fauna in Morro Bay.

Plants and Algae

Eelgrass (Zostera Marina)

Kingdom - Plantae

Phylum - Tracheophyta

Class - Liliopsida

Order - Najadales

Family - Zosteraceae

Eelgrass thrives in an environment which contains a sandy-muddy sediment such as bays, estuaries and shorelines and ranges from Alaska to Baja California. They look dark green with ribbon-like blades growing from rhizomes. Eelgrass creates important habitat for many species, but populations have been declining for over 80-90 years worldwide.

Ulva (Ulva spp)

Kingdom - Plantae

Phylum - Chlorophyta

Class - Ulvophyceae

Order - Ulvales

Family - Ulvaceae

Ulva ranges from Chukchi sea, Alaska to Sonora and Mexico. They can be identified as a yellow-green colour which is hollow with wrinkles and slender blades with a length of around 20 cm. They thrive in a habitat of rocks such as near brackish water and and freshwater seeps. It provides a food source for many marine animals and can also be a habitat for animals to find shelter. It is extremely opportunistic leaving large blooms which in some cases can cause ecological concerns in estuaries as they can lower the quality of habitat hence, reducing ecosystem functions.

Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera )

Kingdom - Chromista

Phylum - Ochrophyta

Class - Phaeophyceae

Order -Laminariales

Family - Laminariaceae

Giant Kelp can grow up to 50 metres long and have large bumpy blades with smooth bulbs. It has a large conical holdfast with a copper like coloration. It thrives in a habitat of a dense kelp forest with rocky shores and depths from 6-30 metres. It ranges from Alaska to Baja California and grows up to 2 feet a day making it one of the largest types of algae. The kelp forests create a more complex habitat that supports more than 275 species of microscopic algae and animals, this does not include larger animals that rely on it for shelter and food.

Invertebrates

Red-Rust Bryozoan (Watersipora subtorquata )

Kingdom - Animalia

Phylum - Bryozoa

Class - Gymnolaemata

Order -Cheilostomata

Family -Watersipora

Red-Rust Bryozoan are found in globally warm seas and are an invasive species in Morro Bay. They have a red, black and/or orange coloration of plate like structures and have visablily large sized pores on the surface of the plates. Additional to this, they have no spines and are juveniles metamorphose. They encrust on floats, pilings in estuaries and harbours and use oral tentacles that sway in the water to catch micro-organic particles which is there source of food. They have both female and male reproductive organs (Hermaphrodite) with the males releasing their sperm into the water where it fertilizes other individuals. The individuals call 'zooids' live as a colony; on the leafy plates each pore contains a zooid. Red-Rust Bryozoan is not native to California and it covers spaces that could be used by native species.

California Bubble Snail (Bulla gouldiana )

Kingdom - Animalia

Phylum - Mollusca

Class -Gastropoda

Order -Cephalaspidea

Family -Bullidae

The California Bubble Snail has a brown speckled shell with a yellow body speckled with white and it has two tentacles. It's range is the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Baja California, Mexico and Ecuador. Its diet consists of Small bivalves and other snails and lives in Mud flats and eelgrass. They are hermaphrodite (has both female and male reproductive organs) and have yellow noodle-like egg clusters which are laid in summer months. Most of their activity occurs at night and the detection of light allows for their circadian clock to recognise day and night. Its predators are the Navanax inermis also known as the California aglaja.

Purple shore crab (Hemigrapsus nudus )

Kingdom - Animalia

Phylum - Arthropoda

Class -Malacostraca

Order -Decapoda

Family -Varanidae

Purple shore crabs have claws with purple spots and white tips, their colour varies between green, yellow, red, purple, brown and they have no hair on their legs. They are omnivorous eating algae, mussels and barnacles. They live under rocks and in crevices, mud flats, channels and the mid tide zone. They range from Alaska to Mexico and there eggs develop underneath the female's abdomen laying 400-36,000 eggs. They always stay together with Hemigrapsus oregonensis (hairy shore crab) and there predators are birds, fish and larger crabs.

Fish

Bay Pipefish (Syngnathus leptorhynchus)

Kingdom - Animalia

Phylum - Chordata

Class -Actinopterygii

Order -Syngnathiformes

Family -Syngnathidae

The Bay Pipefish lives in eelgrass beds with depths of around 150 metres. They can be found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Prince William Sound, Alaska to Bahia Santa Maria, Baja California and Mexico. They are long, slender and have various colours. Their diet consists of small crustaceans and zooplankton and they are Polygyny meaning they have more than one partner and they have a 1-2 year lifespan. The Males become pregnant when females deposit eggs into the male's brood pouch and give birth to live young. There predators are brown smoothhounds (type of shark), spotted sand bass (fish) and elegant terns (birds).

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