Posted by Gerry on November 29, 2000 at 12:54:50:
In Reply to: Re: kelp patty posted by Eins on November 29, 2000 at 12:02:12:
Eins,
It's a mass of kelp on the surface, buoyed up by its float bladders. When kelp breaks free from its' holdfast due to wind, wave, current or diver, it forms a kelp paddy (or patty) which drifts until it breaks up or washes up on a beach. Wind and current will form them into long rows (called windrows) of widely spaced kelp paddys which mark the interface between two different water masses (maybe temp, maybe salinity...) It is of great interest to fisherpersons because it forms a structure which may hold anything from a mola mola or two up to a school of thousands of tuna.
FWIW
GS