The only flowering plant under the sea

On the mainland, flowers are everywhere. While in the ocean, there is only one type of flowering plants and they still need pollination: seagrass. Their flowers have adapted to perform the function of all other flowers on land but with the challenge is performed in the water environment. A long time ago, they used to be a terrestrial plant, but about 100 million years ago, they went into the water to live and never returned.

Currently, seagrasses spread throughout the ocean, some even the largest trees on the planet because they form from a military army. Seagrass can live for a long time. In 2024, the longest seagrass lived in the world was estimated at 1,400 years old.

Seagrass only develops at a certain depth because, like a terrestrial ancestor, they relate to photosynthesis to survive. They often look like green grass with roots plugging to the bottom of the sea, but sometimes, some seagrass will bloom.

Seagrass flowers are very beautiful and some looks like flowers on land. Scientists once thought that they could only pollinate underwater thanks to the lines of the sea. But now they know that this is not entirely accurate.

In 2016, a study in the magazine Nature Communications Providing experimental evidence shows that sea flowers can be pollinated by vertebrates. Like a ise on land, tiny crustaceans and sea worms also work among the flowers of seagrass Thalassia tortoise.

These tiny pollen creatures visit to eat the pollen of the seagrass, but when they leave to look for another tree, they will be clinging to some pollen. The reason is that the flower has evolved to spread pollen wrapped in a sticky mucus. When pollen animals move from one cotton to another, they accidentally pollinate the sea.

Seagrass can still be pollinated thanks to the stream, but these “ocean bees” can promote the growing seagrass. Seagrass ecosystem is extremely helpful. “They improve the transparency of water, stabilize the coast and store carbon, and provide food and shelter for a diverse animal community,” the research team wrote.