Common Eelgrass (Zostera marina)

Description: Eelgrass is green with long, slender, flat blades like regular grass on land. Blades can grow to be 3 m long while only being 1.2 cm wide! As a true plant, blades are attached to a rhizome, or rootstalk, that holds the blades together and has many hair-like roots. The rhizome also anchors the plant in the substrate.

Habitat: Eelgrass is common in the northern Pacific Ocean, it can be found from north Alaska to Baja California, Mexico in the eastern Pacific and around Russia, Korea, and Japan in the western Pacific. They are most often in muddy substrate along protected shorelines in the low intertidal zone to depths of 12 m. They’re also found in sandy bays or estuaries.

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• Eelgrass is one of the world’s most widespread marine plant species.

• With the rhizomes in the sediment, it helps stabilize the area and reduce erosion.

• Large eelgrass beds are an important habitat for many species that rely on it for both food and shelter.

References: The New Beachcomber’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest by J Duane Sept, UC Santa Cruz MARINe, USDA