Coastal Kelp Forest

Semicossyphus pulcher

With a striking black humped forehead, black tail and pink or orange middle, male California sheepheads can live up to 53 years. Females are pink with white bellies, while young sheephead look quite different: they’re bright reddish orange with large black spots on their dorsal and upper tail fins and a long white stripe.

Come meet our big male sheephead, Buddy – and our new smaller female, Sheila!

Hypsypops rubicundus

Named by Italian fishermen after an Italian general in the 1800s who wore brightly colored uniforms, these vermillion fish are highly territorial. The male prepares a nest and, after attracting females to lay their eggs, fiercely guards the eggs, chasing off other creatures (even human divers!) They also have teeth in their throats, and will grind them to warn off intruders.

Young garibaldi have blue spots that tell older fish to leave them alone.

Triakis semifasciata

Beautiful, slender fish with silvery-bronze skin that’s patterned with dark ovals to give them their name, leopard sharks live in shallow waters of bays and estuaries, occasionally coming into kelp forests. Fairly docile towards humans, they feed on the sea floor with mouths on the flat underside of their heads.

They love to eat crabs, clam siphons, fish eggs and innkeeper worms, though they’ll eat other things too. Gillnet and sport fishing restrictions have helped their populations increase.

Gymnothorax mordax

Long and slim, the moray eel is actually a kind of fish – but without pelvic fins, pectoral fins or gill covers. Since it can’t use gill covers to force water over its gills, it has to constantly open its mouth to breathe.
Moray eels can grow up to five feet long, and can be found on the Pacific coast from California to Mexico. They hide in crevasses during the day and hunt at night for octopuses and small fish.
While they don’t bite unless threatened, moray eels have sharp teeth covered in bacteria, so it’s best not to put your hands into a crevasse, just in case.