ocean community
Most ocean plants live in shallow water where they can get plenty of
sunlight.
Underwater forests and meadows
Some plants live only in the salty water of the ocean. These plants live
together in strange underwater forests and meadows.
Seaweeds live in shallow water near the shore, where they can get
sunlight. They grow in great tangled bunches that hug the rocks to keep
from being swept away by the crashing waves.
Eelgrass grows at the muddy bottom of shallow water along the edge of
the shore. It looks like a lawn that needs mowing.
One of the strangest of all plants floats out in the middle of the
ocean. It lives in a glassy shell that is a sort of box with a lid. This
plant, called a diatom, is very tiny. There are billions and billions of
them in the ocean. Diatoms are often called “the pasture of the sea.”
This is because these tiny ocean plants are the main food for many sea
creatures.
