THE CLEAR, COASTAL WATERS OF MONTEREY Bay, California, are renowned as a diver’s paradise and home to rich kelp forests teeming with life. Though biodiverse, Elkhorn Slough, an estuary at the mouth of the Bay, provides a striking contrast.
The waters of Elkhorn Slough are shallow and often murky, making it a challenging place to dive. “I don’t do it for fun, I can tell you that,” says Brent Hughes, a coastal ecologist at Sonoma State University. Yet, for more than two decades, Hughes has immersed himself in this habitat, blindly counting blades of seagrass as he gropes along the estuary’s silty bottom.
Like trees in a forest, seagrass is the backbone of Elkhorn Slough’s ecosystem. Its leaves form a flowing underwater meadow that provides shelter for juvenile fish and…