Posidonia bloom in the Larvotto MPA
Marine Protected Areas
Posidonia, a protected marine plant, is blooming in the Larvotto Marine Protected Area, an event that does not recur from year to year. It’s been a long time since such an important bloom took place!
This phenomenon is coordinated and synchronized, thus maximizing the chances of fertilization. In addition to its vegetative reproduction (asexual, by natural cuttings), Posidonia also disperses thanks to its fruits in order to maintain genetic diversity.
The Posidonia inflorescence is green (4 to 10 flowers) and is difficult to observe as you can see in the photographs. The flowers will give sea olives (fruits of the plant) which will come off between March and next July. These fruits will float and when ripe will release their single seed. If the seed arrives in a favorable environment, it will germinate and give rise to a new plant.
Unfortunately, most of the fruits often wash up on beaches or are found offshore carried away by currents.
