What is Seagrass?
Zostera capricorni at Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia
© Maree Mateer
Seagrasses are productive plants forming the basis of an
underwater community, which may support the juveniles of many of our important inshore commercial and recreational fisheries species.
Seagrasses are angiosperms, yet they are able to complete their complex life cycle completely submerged beneath marine waters. Although, like terrestrial grasses, they are all monocotyledons,
they are related to grasses only in appearance. Generally seagrasses are found in soft sediments,
from sand to mud, and within the sheltered shallow waters of estuaries, bays, lagoons and lakes.
World-wide there are about fifty-two species of seagrasses. Twenty-five of these occur in Australian waters and seven species are known to occur within the Hervey Bay/Great Sandy Strait Region. These are Zostera capricorni, Halodule uninervis, Cymodocea serrulata, Syringodium isoetifolium, Halophila ovalis, Halophila spinulosa and Halophila decipiens.
Seagrasses may be grazed quite heavily in tropical areas by fish, turtles, echinoids (such as sea urchins) and dugongs, but there are few direct grazers in temperate regions. Swans, are known to feed extensively on Zostera and Ruppia. Leatherjacket, blackfish and mullet are known to consume the algal epiphytes associated with seagrasses.
Why is seagrass important?
Causes of seagrass Loss.
Seagrass in Hervey Bay.
Sampling sites in Hervey Bay
Hervey Bay Seagrasses
