Botanical Wednesday: an alien forest

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1. 1
   

   pipenta

   25 April 2012 at 9:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   Dreamy colors curling my toes with joy.

2. 2
   

   A. R

   25 April 2012 at 9:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   KELP! Thar be cephalopods in that thar kelp forest!

3. 3
   

   Glen Davidson

   25 April 2012 at 9:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   The huge bull kelp with its massive rippling fronds.

   And then it’s Kelpos, with a free prize inside every box.

   Glen Davidson

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   firefly

   25 April 2012 at 9:43 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   That absolutely looks like it’s on Pandora.

5. 5
   

   Richard Austin

   25 April 2012 at 10:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   Bah, that’s not alien, it’s Californian.

   … Er, okay, maybe you have a point.

   (I love the kelp beds off the shore here. You can often see masses of it floating a few hundred feet out after storms.)

6. 6
   

   Markita Lynda—damn climate change!

   25 April 2012 at 10:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   Where there’s kelp, there should be sea otters!

7. 7
   

   steve oberski

   25 April 2012 at 10:23 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   @firefly

   As a long time scuba diver I can say that a lot of what you saw on Avatar was home grown ocean life shown at a different scale, i.e. Christmas Tree Soft Coral.

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   iknklast

   25 April 2012 at 11:01 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   Beautiful! I always look forward to botanical Wednesday. Way too many people think the world is all about animals. Where would the animals (including squid) be without plants?

9. 9
   

   gragra

   25 April 2012 at 11:34 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

   Where would the animals (including squid) be without plants?

   We wouldn’t.

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    Antiochus Epiphanes

    25 April 2012 at 12:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

    Beautiful! I always look forward to botanical Wednesday. Way too many people think the world is all about animals. Where would the animals (including squid) be without plants?

    Or other photosynthetic multicellular eukaryotes like kelp.

    Not a plant, but at least it’s a bikont.

11. 11
    

    birgerjohansson

    25 April 2012 at 3:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

    Yarrr!
    (sings)
    “Sponge Bob Square Pants,
    Sponge Bob Square Pants,
    Spooonge Booooob Square Pants”

12. 12
    

    magistramarla

    25 April 2012 at 7:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

    Markita Lynda @6
    Oh yes! I live near a huge protected kelp forest in the bay. Sea otters are very, very easy to spot. It’s wonderful fun to sit at a restaurant near the shore and watch them frolicking and eating.

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    StevoR

    25 April 2012 at 9:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

    Alien? Not so much. Pretty sure that’s scene is from Earth!

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    StevoR

    25 April 2012 at 9:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

    .. Unless soemone sent a mission to Europa or the recently discovered “waterworld” exoplanet Kepler-22b. (See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-22b )

    But if so, they’ve sent it very quietly, very quickly and with very good technology!

15. 15
    

    StevoR

    25 April 2012 at 10:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

    @ firefly :

    That absolutely looks like it’s on Pandora.

    James Cameron’s Pandora from Avatar or Frank Herbert’s Pandora from his novel The Jesus Incident and its sequel The Lazarus Effect with the seas of sentient kelp?

    (The latter would actually be a better fit.)

    Pretty sure you don’t mean the actual Pandora which is one of Saturn’s smaller moons!

    (See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(moon) )

    Plus I’ve just learnt there’s an asteroid 55 Pandora too. Hmm .. didn’t think asteroids and moons were supposed to share names like that!