[8] Turtle grass grows in meadows in calm shallow waters throughout the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, and as far north as Cape Canaveral in Florida.

This increase in rhizome length results in asexual ramets, or clonal colonies which are genetic replicates of the parent plant.

[7] It has been found that where plants have been damaged mechanically, such as by the propellers of boats, the cut ends of rhizomes are unable to grow and holes may develop in the turtle grass meadow.

Turtle grass is dioecious, which means that there are separate male and female plants, each which produce an imperfect flower containing only one sex.

Sexual reproduction takes place from April to July depending on location, though flowering has been observed during warm winters in Tampa Bay, Florida.

In hydrophilic pollination, the pollen grains are carried through the water column by tides or currents and deposited upon an open pistillate flower.

Underwater video cameras have more recently revealed crustaceans, polychaetes, and amphipods swimming towards open male flowers.

[17][13] After about 8 weeks of growth, the fruit undergoes dehiscence (botany), which releases neutrally buoyant seeds into the water column.

The fruit will be moved around by wind, currents, and tides until it eventually splits open to release the negatively buoyant seedlings into a new area.

The grass is eaten by turtles, herbivorous parrotfish, surgeonfish, and sea urchins, while the leaf surface films are a food source for many small invertebrates.

These include bivalves and other molluscs, polychaete worms, amphipods, juvenile fish (which hide among the leaf blades), sea urchin, crabs, and caridean shrimps.