Zosteraceae is a family of marine perennial flowering plants found in temperate and subtropical coastal waters, with the highest diversity located around Korea and Japan. Most seagrasses complete their entire life cycle under water, having filamentous pollen especially adapted to dispersion in an aquatic environment and ribbon-like leaves that lack stomata. Seagrasses are herbaceous and have prominent creeping rhizomes. A distinctive characteristic of the family is the presence of characteristic retinacules, which are present in all species except members of Zostera subgenus Zostera.
Scientists grew eelgrass seedlings in mini lab ecosystems and found that microbes living on and in the seeds shape the plant's microbial community for a long time after germination, offering a way to design better microbiomes for restoring underwater seagrass meadows.
