Where Eel-grass has been recorded
GBIF occurrence records for Zostera marina, mapped and tabulated by country.
82,694 georeferenced occurrence records with coordinates are published for Zostera marina through GBIF, from 44 countries or marine areas. This page maps those records and lists where they come from. Occurrence records reflect where people have looked as well as where the species lives, so well-surveyed coastlines are over-represented.
- Georeferenced records
- 82,694
- Countries / areas
- 44
- Mapped locations
- 144
- Records sampled for the map
- 3,000
- Inland records omitted
- 167
- Gbif taxonkey
- 2863967
Countries and areas with the most records (GBIF)
Japan — 18,114 records; Sweden — 13,159 records; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — 13,139 records; Canada — 11,556 records; Norway — 8,057 records; United States of America — 4,227 records; France — 3,659 records; Finland — 2,013 records; Netherlands — 1,432 records; Estonia — 1,384 records; Mexico — 1,213 records; Germany — 1,122 records; Denmark — 796 records; Poland — 560 records; Ireland — 509 records.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2863967) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2863967&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Marine regions with a WoRMS distribution record
Polish Exclusive Economic Zone.
Source: WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=495077 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.
How to read this map
The map plots a sample of 3,000 of the 82,694 records, deduplicated to a half-degree grid, so dense areas do not merge into one blob. The sample covers 27 of the 44 countries or areas with records; the areas absent from the sample hold 317 records in total (Åland Islands, Belgium, Iceland, Korea, Republic of, Bulgaria, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Morocco, Türkiye).
167 records plotting inland were omitted: for a marine species those are almost always the holding institution's coordinates rather than a collection site.
Records show where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2863967) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2863967&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=495077 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.
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Elsewhere in Eel-grass
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