Biodiversity & Conservation

Dwarf eelgrass - Zostera noltii - General information

Zostera noltii

Image Mark Davies - Zostera noltii
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Distribution map

Zostera noltii recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Zostera noltii is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters Text page icon Refereed by: Dr Leigh Jones

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Angiospermophyta Seagrass, tassel weeds, reeds, sea pink & grasses
Class Angiospermophyta Seagrass, tassel weeds, reeds, sea pink & grasses
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Found in estuaries and bays around Britain with extensive populations in the Moray and Cromarty Firths, the Wash, Essex and Thames estuaries, Argyll and Clyde areas. It is also reported from Strangford Lough, Dungarvan Harbour and Dublin Bay in Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Grows in scattered clumps, dense beds or meadows on intertidal mud or detritus rich fine sand in the intertidal. It is particularly abundant between mean high water neaps and mean low water neaps, often forming a dense belt. Its upper and lower limits shift down shore with decreasing salinity, and in brackish waters (e.g. lagoons, étangs), it may become permanently submerged.
Text page icon Description Grass-like flowering plant with grass green, long, narrow, ribbon shaped leaves 6-22 cm in length and 0.5-1.5 mm wide with 3 irregularly spaced veins. The tips of the leaves are blunt, notched, often asymmetric, and become indented in older leaves. Leaves shoot from a creeping rhizome, 0.5-2 cm thick, with 1-4 roots per node, which binds the sediment. Leaves shoot in groups of 2-5, encased in a short, open, sheath 0.54 cm long. Several flowers (4-5 male and 4-5 female) occur on a spear-shaped reproductive shoot 2 -25 cm long (usually 10cm). Seeds are smooth, white, and 1.5-2 mm in length (excluding the style). Leaves and rhizomes contain air spaces, lacunae, that aid buoyancy and keep the leaves upright when immersed.

This review can be cited as follows:

Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters 2005. Zostera noltii. Dwarf eelgrass. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 23/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=4601>