If you’ve ever been to the beach, you may have seen a kind of seaweed called kelp. These plants grow together underwater in what are called kelp forests. They are beautiful and cover many parts of the world’s oceans, especially in areas where the water is colder. I’ve been scuba diving in them, and they make up an incredible ecosystem, where many unique and extraordinary mollusks, fish, mammals, and other sea life thrive.
Each kelp plant can grow so big—up to over 150 feet in length—that kelp forests become dominant oceanic features, both along the surface and underwater. What is interesting is the manner in which they grow, step by step. Beginning, of course, very small, they steadily make daily gains until they finally end up growing at an amazing rate—sometimes two feet in a single day!
Just for fun, suppose you were a kelp plant just starting out. You would probably be happy that you had experienced the beginnings of your growth. Yet, seeing how big other kelp plants can get, you certainly would expect bigger and bigger advances.
