Do sea creatures eat grass?

Many sea creatures eat grass. There are many species of aquatic and marine grasses that live underwater.

For example, Neptune Grass (Posidonia oceanica) is a flowering marine (saltwater) grass in the Posidoniaceae family of sea grasses. It is also known as  Ocean Grass Wrack and Mediterranean Tapeweed.

Neptune Grass forms a large underwater meadow. Each meadow can be 8 kilometres (5 miles) across. About 55,000 hectares (140,000 acres) of the meadows around the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Formentera are registered as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea.

It has a very high carbon absorption capacity, soaking up to 15 times more carbon dioxide every year than the equivalent size of the Amazon rainforest.

The Neptune Grass has free-floating fruit known as ‘the olive of the sea.’ 

Its ribbon-shaped leaves are bright green and measure up to 150 centimetres (57 inches) long. The leaves turn brown with age. Balls of fibrous material from the leaves, known as Neptune balls, are often washed up on the shore. 

Photographed in the Aquarium de Paris-Cinéaqua, France, April 2022.

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM