海草(かいそう)

かいそう
noun
sea grass; marine flowering plant
technicalplant-generalnature
1. sea grass; marine seed plant
A flowering plant that grows rooted in the sea floor, such as eelgrass. Botanically distinct from 海藻(かいそう) (algae), though the two words sound identical and are often confused.
海草(かいそう)が生(は)えている。
Sea grass is growing there.
海草(かいそう)は魚(さかな)の産卵(さんらん)場所(ばしょ)になる。
Sea grass serves as a spawning ground for fish.
浅(あさ)い海(うみ)に広(ひろ)がる海草(かいそう)の群落(ぐんらく)は、藻場(もば)と呼(よ)ばれている。
The beds of sea grass spreading across shallow waters are called moba.

A technical term from marine biology. In everyday writing many people use 海草(かいそう) loosely for anything growing in the sea, but scientific texts keep the distinction strictly.

Common collocations

Similar words

  • 海藻(かいそう): seaweed, algae — the edible kind (wakame, kombu, nori); same reading, different kanji and different organism
  • 水草(みずくさ): water plants — freshwater rather than marine

Related Words

Compare: 海藻(かいそう)
Related: 水草(みずくさ)
general
Added 2026.8.3 9:18 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:02
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