Tag Archives: mangroves

Growing Mangroves

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Mangroves are an important part of our ecosystem here in South Florida.  They are trees that grow in brackish water along the intracoastal and serve as home to many living creatures, both in the water and on land.  Many of the iconic pictures you see of Florida- especially pictures you see of the keys- feature these beautiful trees coming out of the water.  The photo above is one that I took on a recent kayaking trip of some red mangroves and some beautiful ibises that were looking to snack on small fish and snails that were living beneath them.

Mangroves drop pencil-shaped floating pods into the water that serve as their seeds.- These are called propagules.  One end of the propagule is heavier so that they float vertically, allowing the bottom end to sprout roots while the top end stays above water as the leaves and stems begin to grow.  Propagules can float out to sea from Florida shores to different neighboring Caribbean countries.  Inversely, we often get a few wash up on our shores from other places as well.

They can be found washed up on our beaches all the time and floating all over our intracoastal water ways.   Turns out, they are easy to grown and actually make very pretty and easy to maintain house plants.  I decided to collect a few propagules over the weekend and give it a try.

Here is a really cool YouTube video I found with great info on growing them in either dirt or in fresh water.  They can also be grown in saltwater aquariums, but this would increase the amount of maintenance you would have to do on your tank.:

Finally, here are a few pics of my propagules by the windowsill.  I’ll be filling you in on their progress:

Seining the Lagoon

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Red Mangroves

As a kid, who didn’t love a break from class to go on a fun field trip?  One of my most memorable was a trip to Gumbo Limbo Environmental Center in Boca Raton, Fl. during 7th grade.  We were given seine nets and taught to do the “sting-ray shuffle” in the shallow intracoastal waters so as not to get stung while walking and collecting fish, crabs, shrimp, jellyfish… you name it.

Everything we collected was placed in large buckets and, at the end, we were taught about all the different creatures we had found then released them back into the water.  It was a magical and interactive trip and I carry that memory vividly with me today.

I was researching things to entertain myself during the last few weeks of summer vacation a few days ago and… low and behold I found a link to Gumbo Limbo’s “Seinging the Lagoon” Program, but this time it was open to the public!  Of course, I registered and went.

The program was comprised of a very informative 30 min presentation about local mangroves and wildlife, followed by casting the seine in the intracoastal just as I remembered doing as a girl.  We caught a barracuda which was large enough to be deemed worthy of the nature center’s beautiful tank, a large blowfish, jelly fish, a pipefish (related to the seahorse), shrimp, various small fish and one lonely hermit crab.  As we found things and oogled at our buckets, the nature center’s volunteer exclaimed “its exhilarating isn’t it?!”  It WAS exhilarating to see so much life in such a small, shallow area… even for someone who has probably assisted with hundreds of these classes. Imagine what exists in the depths of the sea!  Conservation is so imperative as is educating our youth about the importance of appreciating seeing the beauty of their local environment so that they appreciate and care for it as adults.

Here are some pics of my fun little adventure: