Page 133 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

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Animal Life BANDED
ARCHERFISH
Mangrove swamps are rich centers of biodiversity. Mangrove trees This little fish inhabits
produce enormous amounts of leaf litter, as well as twigs and bits of mangrove swamps in
the Indian and Pacific
bark, which drop into the water. Some of this immediately becomes oceans. It is known
food for animals such as crabs, but most is broken down by bacteria as an archer- fish
and fungi, which turn it into food for fish and shrimp. These in turn because it feeds
produce waste, which, along with the even smaller mangrove litter, is mainly on flying
insects, which it
consumed by mollusks, amphipods, marine worms, small crustaceans, knocks out of the
and brittlestars. Some of these become food for larger fish, and air and into the water
the various fish species provide food for larger animals. by spitting at them.
Across the world, mangrove swamps
are home to an enormous number and MANGROVE
diversity of birds and several endangered BRITTLESTAR
species of crocodiles. Other types of This scavenger is one
animals found in great numbers and of the few echinoderms
diversity in mangrove swamps include found in mangrove
swamps. It is highly
frogs, snakes, insects, and mammals mobile, using its long
ranging from swamp rats to tigers. arms to pull itself along.

JABIRU STORK
This large stork inhabits mangrove
swamps and other wetlands through-
out the tropical Americas, feeding
on a range of prey, including snakes.

HUMAN IMPACT
SHRIMP FARMING

About a quarter of the world’s
mangrove swamps have been
destroyed since 1980 and have been
built on or turned into commercial
enterprises such as shrimp farms
(including the one shown here, in OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS
Vietnam). Unfortunately, intensive
shrimp farming often has devastating
environmental effects. Typically, the
SHELTER FROM PREDATORS effluent from shrimp ponds pollutes
Cardinalfish, sheltering here in a mangrove nearby coastal waters, destroying
swamp in Papua New Guinea, are one of the more mangroves as well as coral
many types of small tropical fish that use reefs along the coastline.
mangrove roots for protection from predators.