Few complete surveys have been done in these habitats, even though they are common offshore from rocky points in Puget Sound and Hood Canal.  Algae often dominate these habitats.

Diagnostic Species

Nereocystis luetkeana, Agarum spp., Metridium spp.

Common Associates

The large brown algae Pterygophora californica (high currents), Laminaria saccharina and L. groenlandica, Desmarestia ligulata, and Sargassum muticum (low currents); the red algae Iridaea splendens, Rhodymenia pertusa, Callophyllis flabellulata, Polyneura latissima, Gigartina exasperata, and others, the tube-building polychaete Serpula vermicularis, the chitons Tonicella lineata and Mopalia spp., the small snails Margarites spp., the jingle shell Pododesmus cepio, the slipper limpet Crepidula adunca, the crabs Cancer productus and Pugettia spp., the tunicate Pyura haustor, and the seastars Pycnopodia helianthoides, Henricia leviuscula, Mediaster aequalis, Dermasterias imbricata, and Pisaster brevispinus.

Sites Surveyed

Restoration Point (Bainbridge), Lincoln Park, West Point, Blakely Rock, Hoodsport, Howe Sound (British Columbia), Fox Island, Steamboat Island, Fidalgo Head, Saltspring Island and elsewhere in the Strait of Georgia.

Sources

Neushul, 1965; Thom et al., 1976; Thom, 1978; McDaniel, 1973; Hodgson and Waaland, 1979; Harlin, 1969; Lindstrom and Foreman, 1978; Lim, 1980; H. Webber, R. Shimek unpubl. data.