[3] The kelp gunnel was first formally described in 1897 by the American ichthyologists Charles Henry Gilbert & Edwin Chapin Starks with its type locality given as Santa Rosa Island in California.

[4] Gilbert and Starks placed their new species in the new monospecific genus Ulvicola.

[2] The kelp gunnel's generic name, Ulvicola, means an inhabitant of Ulva, the genus of sea lettuce, possible a reference to its rockpool habitat and its specific name refers to the type locality.

[6] The kelp gunnel has a maximum total length of 29 cm (11 in).

[3] The kelp gunnel is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean along the western coast of North America between Pacific Grove, California to northern Baja California in Mexico, as well as Guadalupe Island.