# Zostera > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Zostera > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Zostera.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zostera > Source revision: 1353832084 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{More citations needed|date=December 2025}} {{Short description|Genus of aquatic plants}} {{About|saltwater eelgrasses|freshwater eelgrasses|Vallisneria}} {{italic title}} {{automatic taxobox |name= ''Zostera'' (marine eelgrasses) |image = Eelgrass.jpg |image_caption = ''[Zostera marina](/source/Zostera_marina)'' |taxon = Zostera |authority = [L.](/source/Carl_Linnaeus) |synonyms_ref = |synonyms = *''Alga'' Tourn. ex Lam. *''Heterozostera'' (Setch.) Hartog *''Nanozostera'' Toml. & Posl. | range_map = World map ocean genus-Zostera.jpg | range_map_caption = Global distribution map of ''Zostera''. Green indicates presence. }} [[Image:Zostera.jpg|thumb|right|''Zostera'' sp in Mussel Ridge Channel, Birch Island, [Maine](/source/Maine)]] '''''Zostera''''' is a small [genus](/source/genus) of widely distributed [seagrass](/source/seagrass)es, commonly called '''marine eelgrass''', or simply '''seagrass''' or '''eelgrass'''. The genus ''Zostera'' contains 15 species. ==Ecology== ''[Zostera marina](/source/Zostera_marina)'' is found on sandy substrates or, in [estuaries](/source/estuary), usually submerged or partially floating. Most ''Zostera'' are [perennial](/source/perennial). They have long, bright green, ribbon-like leaves, the width of which are about {{convert|1|cm|1}}. Short stems grow up from extensive, white branching [rhizome](/source/rhizome)s. The flowers are enclosed in the sheaths of the leaf bases; the fruits are bladdery and can float.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} ''Zostera'' beds are important for sediment deposition, substrate stabilization, as substrate for epiphytic [algae](/source/algae) and micro-invertebrates, and as nursery grounds for many species of important fish and shellfish.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} ''Zostera'' often forms beds in [bay mud](/source/bay_mud) in the estuarine setting. It is an important food for [brant geese](/source/brant_goose) and [wigeon](/source/wigeon)s, and even (occasionally) [caterpillar](/source/caterpillar)s of the [grass moth](/source/grass_moth) ''[Dolicharthria punctalis](/source/Dolicharthria_punctalis)''.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} The [slime mold](/source/slime_mold) ''[Labyrinthula](/source/Labyrinthula) [zosterae](/source/Labyrinthula_zosterae)'' can cause the wasting disease of ''Zostera'', with ''Z. marina'' being particularly susceptible, causing a decrease in the populations of the fauna that depend on ''Zostera''.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} ''Zostera'' is able to maintain its [turgor](/source/Turgor_pressure) at a constant pressure in response to fluctuations in environmental [osmolarity](/source/osmolarity).{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} It achieves this by losing solutes as the tide goes out and gaining solutes as the tide comes in. ==Distribution== The genus as a whole is widespread throughout seashores of much of the Northern Hemisphere as well as [Australia](/source/Australia), [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand), [Southeast Asia](/source/Southeast_Asia) and southern [Africa](/source/Africa). The discovery of ''[Z. chilensis](/source/Zostera_chilensis)'' in 2005 adds an isolated population on the Pacific coast of [South America](/source/South_America) to the distribution. One species (''[Z. noltii](/source/Zostera_noltii)'') occurs along the land-locked [Caspian Sea](/source/Caspian_Sea). ==Uses== Eelgrass has been used for food by the [Seri](/source/Seri_people) tribe of [Native Americans](/source/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas) on the coast of [Sonora](/source/Sonora), Mexico.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} The rhizomes and leaf-bases of eelgrass were eaten fresh or dried into cakes for winter food. It was also used for smoking [deer](/source/deer) meat. The [Seri language](/source/Seri_language) has many words related to eelgrass and eelgrass-harvesting. The month of April is called ''xnoois ihaat iizax'', literally "the month when the eelgrass seed is mature".{{cite book |last1=Felger |first1=Richard |last2=Moser |first2=Mary B. |author2link=Mary B. Moser|title=People of the Desert and Sea: Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians |url=https://archive.org/details/peopleofdesertse0000felg |url-access=registration |location=Tucson |year=1985 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |isbn=9780816508181 }} ''Zostera'' has also been used as packing material and as stuffing for mattresses and cushions.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} On the [Danish](/source/Denmark) island of [Læsø](/source/L%C3%A6s%C3%B8) it has been used for thatching roofs. Roofs of eelgrass are said to be heavy, but also much longer-lasting and easier to thatch and maintain than roofs done with more conventional thatching material. More recently, the plant has been used in its dried form for insulation in eco-friendly houses and as a ground cover in [permaculture](/source/permaculture) gardens, once its salt layer washed off (ex: Friland, Danish eco-village).{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} In the United States, eelgrass insulation was commercially marketed in the early 1900s as Cabot's Quilt by the Samuel Cabot Co of Boston. However, due to an outbreak of ''[Labyrinthula](/source/Labyrinthula) zosterae'' which destroyed crops of eelgrass, combined with the collapse of the homebuilding industry due to the [Great Depression](/source/Great_Depression_in_the_United_States), it went out of production and was replaced in new homes with fiberglass (introduced in the late 1930s).{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} Some studies show promise for [eelgrass meadows](/source/Seagrass_meadows) to sequester atmospheric carbon to reduce anthropogenic climate change.{{cite journal |last1=Holmer |first1=Marianne |title=Underwater Meadows of Seagrass Could Be the Ideal Carbon Sinks |journal=Smithsonian Magazine |date=1 November 2018 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/underwater-meadows-could-be-ideal-carbon-sinks-180970686/ |access-date=11 August 2021 |language=en}} ''Zostera'' can also be utilized to produce biomass energy using the [Jean Pain](/source/Jean_Pain) method.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}} ==Species== ;Accepted species{{Cite web|url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=309029|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|website=apps.kew.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-02-02}} * ''[Zostera asiatica](/source/Zostera_asiatica)'' Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China * ''[Zostera caespitosa](/source/Zostera_caespitosa)'' Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China * ''[Zostera capensis](/source/Zostera_capensis)'' Setchell – Madagascar; Kenya to Cape Province * ''[Zostera capricorni](/source/Zostera_capricorni)'' Ascherson – New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand * ''[Zostera caulescens](/source/Zostera_caulescens)'' Miki – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, NE China * ''[Zostera chilensis](/source/Zostera_chilensis)'' (J. Kuo) S. W. L. Jacobs & D. H. Les – Chile * ''[Zostera japonica](/source/Zostera_japonica)'' Ascherson & Graebner – Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam * ''[Zostera marina](/source/Zostera_marina)'' L. – shores of North Pacific, North Atlantic, British Isles Mediterranean, Black Sea, Sea of Okhotsk * ''[Zostera mucronata](/source/Zostera_mucronata)'' den Hartog – Australia * ''[Zostera muelleri](/source/Zostera_muelleri)'' Irmisch ''ex'' Ascherson – Australia * ''[Zostera nigricaulis](/source/Zostera_nigricaulis)'' (J.Kuo) S.W.L.Jacobs & D.H.Les – Australia * ''[Zostera noltii](/source/Zostera_noltii)'' Hornem. – shores of Northeastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian Sea * ''[Zostera novazelandica](/source/Zostera_novazelandica)'' Setchell – New Zealand * ''[Zostera polychlamys](/source/Zostera_polychlamys)'' (J.Kuo) S.W.L.Jacobs & D.H.Les – Australia * ''[Zostera tasmanica](/source/Zostera_tasmanica)'' Martens ''ex'' Ascherson – Australia ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Zostera}} * [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Zostera&SPECIES_XREF=&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK= Flora Europaea: ''Zostera''] * [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=135358 Flora of North America: ''Zostera''] * [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=3&taxon_id=135358 Flora of China: ''Zostera'' species list] * [http://www.ukmarinesac.org.uk/communities/zostera/z4_2.htm Wasting disease of ''Zostera''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171203/http://www.ukmarinesac.org.uk/communities/zostera/z4_2.htm |date=2016-03-03 }} * [http://www.buzzardsbay.org/eelgrass.htm Historical Changes of Eelgrass in Buzzards Bay, MA (USA)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422083636/http://www.buzzardsbay.org/eelgrass.htm |date=2014-04-22 }} * [http://www.seagrassli.org Long Island's Seagrass conservation website, Seagrass.LI] {{Taxonbar|from=Q157371}} {{Authority control}} Category:Zostera Category:Alismatales genera Category:Biota of the Atlantic Ocean Category:Flora of the Pacific Category:Biota of the Indian Ocean Category:Biota of the Caspian Sea Category:Salt marsh plants Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Zostera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zostera) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zostera?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.