Amazing stuff! Animal-mediated pollination may have evolved first in water before on land.
"... via experiments and observations in the wild, the researchers discovered that the idoteas [marine isopods (small crustaceans)] play a helping hand. It was observed that as the crustaceans forage on male G. gracilis alga, sticky mucilage-coated spermatia (male gametes) cling to the animals' cuticles – the spermatia are produced by structures that dot the surface of the alga.
When those same idoteas land on a female alga, some of the spermatia are transferred to its reproductive organ, completing the fertilization process. The idoteas get something out of the deal too, as the algae provides protection from the elements, plus its surface is covered in small organisms which the iodteas eat. ..."
From the abstract:
"The long-held belief that animal-mediated pollination is absent in the sea has recently been contradicted in seagrasses, motivating investigations of other marine phyla. This is particularly relevant in red algae, in which female gametes are not liberated and male gametes are not flagellated. Using experiments with the isopod Idotea balthica and the red alga Gracilaria gracilis, we demonstrate that biotic interactions dramatically increase the fertilization success of the alga through animal transport of spermatia on their body. This discovery suggests that animal-mediated fertilization could have evolved independently in terrestrial and marine environments and raises the possibility of its emergence in the sea before plants moved ashore."
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