SURPRISING SEAGRASS WILDLIFE
WITH HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT WILDLIFE TRUST
Snakelocks anemone on seagrass. Image: Tim Ferrero HIWWT
The Solent is a landmark in British waters as the home of the Royal Navy, an important gateway for shipping and trade, and a famous hub for recreational boating and other watersports. Less well known are its internationally important protected wildlife and habitats, including its wonderful seagrass meadows. Seagrasses are the only marine flowering plants and support rich biodiversity, including amazing species like seahorses, spider crabs and pipefish. An important asset for local fisheries, seagrass meadows provide nursery and foraging areas for species like sea bass, which spend up to seven years growing in the Solent and its estuaries before joining the adult population. Cuttlefish also visit the area every spring and summer to breed, attaching their dark black eggs, known as sea grapes, to the long leaves of the plants. Seagrass meadows are an incredibly important asset in the fight against climate change – absorbing and storing carbon dioxide in huge quantities, locking it away in the muds and sands they grow upon. They are one of the most efficient carbon-storing habitats on Earth, performing better than tropical rainforests. In fact, despite only covering about 0.1% of the seabed, seagrass meadows are responsible for sequestering up to 18% of all oceanic carbon. They
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