The peculiar filiform pollen morphology and ability to pollinate in an
aquatic medium have evolved convergently in the marine angiosperms or
'seagrasses'. A comparison of these systems with freshwater ones, rev
eals that reproductive strategy alone does not provide sufficient info
rmation to understand this convergence. Several models have, however,
been proposed to explain the function and evolution of seagrass pollen
morphologies. The first is a mathematical model, random search theory
, which requires pollen to travel both 'randomly' and perpendicularly
to its path. It is elegant conceptually, but does not hold up to physi
cal and empirical scrutiny. Conversely, a biophysical model, which req
uires pollen to obey the fluid dynamic principles of boundary-layer fl
ow, may be complicated conceptually, but it is consistent with mathema
tics and nature. The correct modelling of pollination mechanisms in se
agrasses provides an understanding of contemporary adaptations as well
as the processes that selected them.