TIMES RECORD • January 28, 2021
Beachcombing in the winter can lead to the discovery of a variety of treasures. On a recent beach trip, one of my daughters came across a kelp holdfast entangling a blue mussel shell. It had the look of an uprooted tree that had taken a fieldstone with it, its many wiry tendrils enveloping the shell. This holdfast isn’t a root at all. That’s because kelp is a type of seaweed and seaweeds are algae and not plants. That means they absorb nutrients straight from their surroundings, not from the ground, or whatever they are attached to. Unlike free-floating algae that are teeny and short-lived, seaweeds like to stick to one spot where they can grow. But, that “sticky” spot can be almost anything. ~ Susan Olcott