Ecklonia maxima

Ecklonia maxima, sea bamboo, is a species of kelp native to the southern oceans. It is most typically found along the southern Atlantic coast of Africa, from the very south of South Africa north to Namibia. In these areas the species dominates the shallow, (up to 8 m) temperate-water kelp forests offshore.

From the holdfast attached to a rock or the large holdfast of another kelp, a single long stipe rises to the surface waters, where a single large pneumatocyst holds a tangle of blades at the surface.

The species is of economic importance: it is harvested for both an agricultural supplement and as food for abalone raised on farms.