It was a few years ago that I pondered with a basic question: how important terrestrial plants really are? We have learned in school that it is them who produce oxygen for us to breath, food for us to eat, and nurture all the creatures of wild; big or small. To be precise, what bothered me is a thought of not-so-pleasant incident, a "total-terrestrial-deforestation" -destruction of all forests and plants in the land. Such an incident is perfectly plausible-though hopefully never happen- in the current alarming rates of deforestation and population explosion. In such a situation ever, can we live?

Some might think obviously we can't, but as far as oxygen and food supply are concerned, we can still live with out the land plants ¹. Importance of land plants is largely exaggerated to an extent that makes us believe trees are oxygen powerhouses and the only primary producers of the biosphere. But the earth surface as we all know, is largely water (around 73% of total area) and it is the seaplants-also known as algae- give forth almost 85% of the oxygen we all breath and produces 80% of the world's food supply². Importance of oceans have always been ignored by specialists and public alike untill very recently such that the conventional definition of "Biomes" does not cover any of the habitats in marine biosphere. Why this bias? The main reason might be the fact that we are a terrestrial animal and have always believed what the most apparent thing for our eyes

What are the seaplants? We all have seen it on the rocky shores, those little beautiful plants that love to get soaked in the surf. Now that you might ask, "are not they known as Seaweeds?" Bingo! But we-those who love them- disagree, and we have a reason why seaplants should not be called 'seaweeds', the misnomer. Not even a single occasion that I could figure out where the word 'weed' is used to refer something good. Weed is a plant-or even a person- that is unsightly, useless and causes injury to others, the exact opposite of what a seaweed really is. It was them who first produced oxygen on this planet earth (some 2.5 billion years ago) and made this earth hospitable to all the living things. Seaplants carries out vast majority of the carbon fixation on planet earth and it was them who first made petrol and diesel that we currently depend hugely on. Hence we cant live with out them, the green plants of ocean.

Seaplants can largely be divided into two types for our better understanding of them, one that are sturdy and grows attached to rocks: benthic seaplants and those which are so small such that they float and drift away: phytoplankton (Floating-sea-plants). Seaplants are also classified based on its colors: Green, Brown or Red. In many parts of the world like Japan, seaplants constitute a large portion of everyday meals. Red seaplant : nori, green seaplants: aonori, and hitoegusa and brown seaplants: kombu and wakame are some of the most important edible seaplants. Apart from food, seaplants are also harvested for the production of chemicals such as agar and carrageenan. Study of seaplants is called Phycology and one who studies them is called Phycologist.

In this world where population explosion leading to urbanization that sweeps through farming lands and forests alike, it can be foreseen that decreasing agriculture give way to increasing aquaculture and taste buds of human beings evolve to liken seaplant delicacies in the -not so far- future. At least by then, let us hope that lexicons accept seaplant as a legitimate word!