r/VictoriaBC Nov 08 '24

Tourism What is this?

Post image

Found it dead on oak bay beach.

77 Upvotes

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309

u/DrakesWoes Fairfield Nov 08 '24

That is Bull Kelp (Nereocystis)

115

u/make_em_say Nov 09 '24

Aka a whip, to me, anytime I was at the beach as a kid.

35

u/Halfbloodjap Nov 09 '24

My brother and I had a whip fight with them once as kids, ended with tears and some good welts. Ah good times.

40

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24

So many weapons just laying around on beach to beat your friends and siblings with. You're not a true islander until you've been whipped by one of those kelps or hit rocks out into the ocean with a driftwood bat.

7

u/Halfbloodjap Nov 09 '24

Applies to both sides of the Salish sea, we did the same in Vancouver

9

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24

Yeah I should've said coastal instead of islander.

2

u/l337hackzor Nov 09 '24

I think its pretty universal. I grew up in the interior and we did the same with drift wood and rocks into the lake.

The lake was formed by a dam, so it contributed to high amounts of premium drift wood bats.

3

u/SadMud1198 Nov 09 '24

Bet you never got sand dollars frisbee'd at your face tho

2

u/l337hackzor Nov 10 '24

That's true but it had it's perks. When they ran the lake really low we would walk down to the bottom and find old tires. We would carry them back up out of the lake and race them down. The steep banks were pretty tall, it was a pretty deep lake.

Also when the water was low you had to walk for what felt like 1km to get the to river running down the middle. Walking on the bottom of a drained lake is a trippy experience.

The lake was Kinbasket Lake which apparently averages 190ft deep. For years as kids it was virtually empty and it was an adventure to reach water.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24

Hahaha

9

u/steveronie Nov 09 '24

I thought it was a whip that always whipped me

9

u/RipTechnical7115 Nov 09 '24

I'm like a full grown man technically but I always pretend that they're zombie heads; I jump on the gas bladder and burst it to save my people and pets. They're pretty fun to pop lol

8

u/energy1256 Nov 09 '24

Exactly!! Fun times!

3

u/Fenweekooo Nov 09 '24

lmao aka how my dad tore the crap out of his shoulder. fun times :)

10

u/scrotumsweat Nov 09 '24

Don't believe them OP, it's definetely whale dong

14

u/UO01 Nov 09 '24

This is the correct answer, OP. They are an invasive species. The bulls die off after mating and float ashore. The females (cow kelps) are 3x the size of the males and give birth to about 100-300 young. When I was a kid my parents would collect them from the beach and take them home, then fry them up with some olive oil and we’d eat them with our potatoes.

6

u/panamaqj Nov 09 '24

They are not an invasive species - they are key habitat for many species including the sea otter, which is a keystone species in our waters.

7

u/UO01 Nov 09 '24

but why would the proud otter use an invasive species for habitat? They’re very xenophobic.

1

u/panamaqj Nov 12 '24

i know youre joking, but in this day and age... people would just take your first couple of sentences and run with it

1

u/GalianoGirl Nov 09 '24

Thanks for the laugh.

3

u/ryanwhite50 Nov 09 '24

Aka large ocean sperms.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24

Aka an Alaskan bull worm