Peligroso. Cuidate!

Mr. Kurtz, he dead?

Mangrove trees are the He-Women of coastal ecosystems.  

The term “mangrove” refers to a variety of trees and shrubs growing in coastal saline sediment generally found in the Jimmy Buffett latitudes of 25’N to 25’S.

Mangroves exist in delta or swampy conditions where fresh water meets salt.  Add heat, insects, jungle sound-track noises. 

Add animals that prefer their meals rotten.

Fresh water meets salt

Surprise, Sara.

Click to enlarge for full effect

Our large paddle propelled wooden canoe carried two know-it-all amateur biologists, one ex-pat chef and her heavily make-upped niece from the Bronx, Dave the guide, Francesco the paddle wielder, DB the faithful, Sara the friendly, Julienne the afraidy-cat, and me, the one who makes other people do educational things at dusk in a tippy canoe and crocodiles, too, swamp.

  

Francesco shoves off

(Crocodile teeth constantly regenerate.)

Mangroves are important: 2/3rds of fish populations worldwide need them for survival.  Mangroves are diminishing:  fish and shrimp farming, resort land development, and ignorance of the mangrove’s merit have contributed to the destruction of 20% of the world’s mangroves during the life of my 26 year old.  Ergo, sit up straight and pay attention.  

El Manglar of Tenacatita Bay teems with wildlife- over 300 iguanas, 350 species of birds of which 75 are native, hundreds of endangered cocodrilos americanos.  

Probably ibises and spoonbills

It is the nursery grounds for fish, crab, shrimp, mollusks, and the habitat of numerous creepy crawly slithery things.  


But the really cool and immensely significant part of the ecosystem picture is that the mangrove tree/shrub itself uses a snorkel to breath. Yup. 

Moon under Anhinga

As we wove past the overhanging branches Dave pointed out green and ringed kingfishers perched above and orange-fronted parakeets flocking to distant tree tops.  Social flycatchers inspected our group from a very sociable distance. We caught ourselves yawning at oh, not another neotropic cormorant.  We were tested on snowy, cattle, and great egrets. Three kinds of herons.

Nighty night egrets

Not only do mangrove provide the filtration of saline and fresh water toxins but they do so with air-breathing roots which surface from the oxygen deprived mud from which they grow.  The leaves of the mangrove actually excrete salt.

Imagine very strong sulfur smell: endless composting

Mangrove babies

Boat-billed Heron perhaps

Not so creepy in daylight

And, don’t get me started on the ingenious way they reproduce- picture nutrient rich pods floating off from momgrove.  But sadly, no real drama during our expedition.  No tick-tocking beneath our low riding canoe. No snakes dropping from overhead limbs.  Just beauty.