Seagrass Beds - Intertidal sediments and Inshore and shelf subtidal sediments

What is it: 

Seagrasses (also known, for their long thin leaves, as eel grass) are grass-like flowering plants with dark green, long, narrow, ribbon-shaped leaves. They are one of the very few groups of flowering plants that live in the sea. They grow in sheltered waters such as inlets, bays, estuaries and saltwater lagoons.

There are 6 layers:

Intertidal sediments

  1. Zostera noltii beds in littoral muddy sand
  2. Littoral Zostera marina / angustifolia beds on lower shore or infralittoral clean or muddy sand
  3. Other seagrass bed habitats on intertidal sediments

Inshore and Shelf Subtidal Sediments

  1. Sublittoral Zostera marina / angustifolia beds on lower shore or infralittoral clean or muddy sand
  2. Ruppia maritima in reduced salinity infralittoral muddy sand
  3. Other seagrass bed habitats on inshore and shelf subtidal sediments
Links to Scotland's Marine Atlas: 
This information page is part of the theme: 
Intertidal seagrass bed in Dornoch Firth © SNH