Large blades of bull kelp in the ocean.

Plants & Algae

Seagrasses are flowering plants that can form dense underwater meadows and are an important shallow water habitat.

Seagrass Overview

Are you a student researching seagrass or someone looking to learn more about seagrass beds? This overview dives into everything to know.

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Featured Content

A World Adrift: Life in the Sargassum

Relatively slow moving, juvenile plane-head filefish Monacanthus hispidus (Monacanthidae) travel along with the algae. They pick off and eat small animals as they move around in the rotating sargassum ball. Adult filefish only grow to be about 11

Coralline Algae: The Unsung Architects of Coral Reefs

Many species of pink coralline algae, which cements coral reefs together, cover a reef surface in the Southern Line Islands.

How Coastal Seagrass Feeds the Deep

Seagrasses are flowering plants that can form dense underwater meadows and are an important shallow water habitat.

Are You An Educator?

At Smithsonian Ocean, we have lesson plans, activities, and resources to help you engage your students in the wonders of our oceans.
see all lesson plans see plant & algae lesson plans

Plants & Algae Articles

Finding Mangroves In Unexpected Places

A newly established black mangrove sits in a field of salt marsh near the northern limit of mangroves in Florida. Mangroves have been expanding near their northern limit in Florida and the expansion is linked to a reduction in the frequency of ex

Too Much of a Good Thing—the Atlantic Sargassum Belt

Sargassum forms dense clumps up to the size of a beach ball that slowly rotate as they drift.

Mangrove Restoration: Letting Mother Nature Do The Work

Mangroves on the edge of the water.

Bugs and Slugs: The Hidden Secret to Healthy Seagrasses

Neptune grass (Posidonia oceanica) is a slow-growing and long-lived seagrass native to the Mediterranean.

Bringing Back Tampa Bay’s Seagrass

Seagrasses are flowering plants that can form dense underwater meadows and are an important shallow water habitat.