Intertidal Seagrass

Dataset owned and provided by EPA.

Seagrass beds occur on shallow, sheltered intertidal and subtidal sediments.

Five seagrass species are found around Britain and Ireland; three species of eelgrass (namely Zostera marina, Z. angustifolia and Z. noltii) and two species of tassel weed (Ruppia maritima and R. cirrhosa) which can partly replace Zostera species in seagrass beds in certain circumstances.

Seagrasses form a unique group of plants in that they are the only angiosperms (flowering plants) that can truly be called marine, with approximately 60 species found worldwide (Den Hartog, 1970).