And if a marine reserve can succeed in the Channel Islands, where so much life converges, it may help us think differently about wilderness beneath the waves. Kelp snails, with their vivid red foot, live and feed on giant kelp. They provide habitat for a snail called the slipper limpet, which attaches to the host animal's shell. The teeth of the California horn shark are set in rows that rotate inward, moving prey along as a conveyor belt would. The front teeth grasp, while the back rows lie flat and grind.
Horn sharks eat sea urchins and crustaceans, grinding away their spines and crushing their shells.
The shark's curved nostril-flaps channel water into its nose so the shark can smell. The female lays a spiral egg case in which a single shark grows, nourished by yolk. Giant kelp plants wrap a rootlike holdfast firmly around rocks on the bottom and send out a central stipe that can grow 100 feet up and another 30 feet along the surface. Blades grow off the central stipe, each with an air bladder that helps keep the plant afloat. Like rainforests, kelp forests offer food and refuge to an array of species at every level, from the bottom to the canopy.