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An immense variety of animals live in mangrove swamps. Many creatures rely on mangroves as nurseries for their young, who hide from predators beneath the stilted roots of the trees. You can find different species of fish, birds, mammals, reptiles and even amphibians in mangrove habitats.
Mangroves provide habitat for thousands of species—from fish and mollusks to various types of reptiles and birds. The hoatzin, found mostly in the mangroves of the Amazon, looks like a bizarre mash-up of different bird species.
Snails, barnacles, bryozoans, tunicates, mollusks, sponges, polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, shrimps, crabs, and jellyfish all live either on or in close proximity to mangrove root systems. Some invertebrates thrive in the mangrove canopy, of which the most abundant are the crabs.
Swimming in the seas that reach East Africa’s mangrove swamps can be found the dugong, a vulnerable marine mammal that is often mistaken for its cousin, the manatee, due to its gray appearance and oblong body. The relationship among mangroves, dugongs, and the seagrasses they feed on supports the survival of all three.
Mangroves support sustainable coastal and marine ecosystems. They protect nearby areas from tsunamis and extreme weather events. Mangrove forests are also effective at carbon sequestration and storage and mitigate climate change.
Mangrove is the name for a tree—and also for a complex ecosystem—that bridges land and sea. There are around 70 species of mangrove trees (meaning trees that can grow in salty water and soils), but they are not all closely related. The ability to live in a swampy, salty habitat evolved many times over millions of years resulting in a wide ...
Monkeys, snakes and lizards crawl along tree limbs. Frogs cling to bark and leaves. Crocodiles laze in the salt water. Some creatures are found nowhere else but in mangrove forests. A grey heron keeps watch atop the leaves of a red mangrove tree in the Galapagos while yellow surgeonfish swim below. ©Octavio Aburto.