Mangle tangle

Today we hit the road to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for one of our week 6 assignments–exploring the mangroves!!!

Gosh, I love this stuff!!!

First, the mangroves themselves. We were able to spot red, black, and white mangroves. Unfortunately we did not get any pics of the whites because the mosquitoes in the upland area were intense and we had to run for our lives!!! It was much better down by the water where the reds and blacks grow.

Here are the red mangroves:

can you see the prop roots extending down into the water?

Here are a bunch of propagules that have drifted into the sand and are beginning to take root.

above, a propagule up close, and below a red mangrove flower

And the black mangroves:

You can easily identify them by the many pencil-like pneumataphores coming out of the ground below them.

Black mangrove seeds on the branch (above) and partially sprouted (below)

Then we geared up and went snorkeling to see what we could see in the tangle underneath!

There was so much to see! I only wish I had an underwater camera so I could get pictures of all of the amazing creatures we saw under the mangroves. WOW!!!! But alas, a simple list is all I have to share, with some links to pics by other folks:

• mangrove tunicates (gorgeous!)
• flat tunicates
• encrusting social tunicates
• several types of bryozoans
• every shape and size of sponges in red, orange, yellow, blue, and black–beautiful!!
• variegated feather duster worms (fascinating!)
• branching fire coral (YIKES!)
• blushing star coral
• pale anemones
• medusa worm
• young barracudas
• mangrove snappers
• parrot fish
• blue striped grunt
• a planehead file fish (so cute!)
• needle fish
• upside down jellyfish
• many, many small unidentified minnows in large schools
• and lots of beautiful algae, of course!

Oh, how I wish I had pictures of all that gorgeous stuff!

Here are a few things I was able to get pictures of:

a bad pic of a young great barracuda (only about a foot or so long)

a dead mangrove crab (Scylla serrata ?)

Four-toothed nerite

What a wonderful and very full day!