Photo: Bull Kelp Picture Taiaroa Head Otago New Zealand

Bull Kelp swirls across the coastline of Taiaroa Head in Otago on the South Island of New Zealand when the tide is at its lowest point.

When looking at this picture, it almost gives the impression that hundreds of snakes are squirming around in the soggy ground at Taiaroa Head in Otago on the South Island of New Zealand. This is what the coastline looks like at low tide around Taiaroa Head in Otago with bull kelp, not snakes, covering the landscape.

Bull kelp grows in a subtidal zone in depths of about twenty meters of water and can reach lengths of forty meters. You can see in this picture the long blades that extend from the bulb-shaped floats and stretch across the pools that have been left behind after the water has receded.

This seaweed grows for only one season and then dies and will eventually get washed up on the coastline after the storms blow through Taiaroa Head in Otago, New Zealand. For about six or seven months out of the year, bull kelp grows very fast until it reaches tremendous lengths like this found along the Otago coastline. ... continue below the picture...

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Be very careful when treading around this area of Taiaroa Head in Otago, New Zealand at low tide as the ground is extremely slippery due to the massive amount of bull kelp. The area is also home to many fascinating sea creatures that hide and live around the bull kelp and one wrong step could easily crush them.

Bull Kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, at Taiaroa Head, Otago Peninsula near Dunedin, Otago, East Coast, South Island, New Zealand.