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Marine forests
From about a half metres deep, the larger
kelp
specie build forests. Norwegian kelp forests can be composed of giant
plants several metres tall and where divers can swim down amongst the stalks
and the leaves are high above. Swedish kelp specie are seldom taller than
1,5 m, but even here the vegetationen
is divided into several different layers with crust-like algae forming
a thin layer on the rocks and thereafter thread and leaf-like algae under
the "crown layer" which compose the larger kelps leaves. The "crown
layer" is annual, with new leaves growing
every year, while the stalks are perrenial. In the kelp forests, the
variety of algae and small creatures is greater than amongst the seaweed.
Both large and small fish flourish.
Deeper down, the amount of algae diminishes and finally is absent. Here
the attached creatures dominate.
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