Colourful Rock in Temperate Pacific

Some people think tropical seas are colourful and temperate ones are not. Often the opposite is true. Many hard corals of tropical reefs in shallow water are greenish or brownish. A lot of invertebrates in cold(er) water have very bright colours. The rock on the picture is only in about four metres of water. A look from the surface would show a carpet of green and brown sea weeds on a rock with occasional pale pink areas. However, a closer look under the fronds reveals a rich carpet of various organisms of fascinating colours and shapes. Almost all of them are, surprisingly, animals, even though they have shapes of plants.