The mangroves live in the intertidal region which means that sometimes the area is covered by water and other times it is covered by water. The mudflats are important habitat for animals when they are exposed to the air.
This shot of the mudflat shows two interesting mudflat inhabitants- crabs and mudskippers. Mudspkippers are fishes that are adapated to living at the land-sea interface. They use their pectoral fins to walk around in the mud. I can mangify this photo on my computer so that it is easy to see the critters, but I don't know how to save and post the magnified photo. If you double click the photo then you can see a larger version and get a better view of these really interesting fish. This is the first time I have ever seen a live mudskipper.
Our guide thought that these footprints were probably made by an otter. I would have liked to see that.
Fish Farm
One stop on the boat tour was at a "fish farm". It didn't look like an place where they were actively raising fish for profit, but rather a place where they had some marine live for tourists to look at. These small enclosures held fishes such as jacks, groupers, and stingrays among others.
These are Archer Fish. I have seen Archer Fish several times during other trips through the mangroves in the Indo-Pacific region. However, I had never seen their famous behavior until the visit to the fish farm.
Archer fish are able to hunt for insects that live on the mangrove roots by spitting a stream of water that knocks the insects off of their perch into the water. Here you can see the stream of water heading towards a piece of squid (the white blotch)stuck to the pole. It was a direct hit every time! They said that they were able to hit targets up to three meters away. I think that seeing the Archer Fish hit its target was my favorite part of the whole trip!
The guide is showing us a horeshoe crab. This was the first time that I had seen a live one.
Charcoal Kiln
The brick structure on shore is a kiln that was formerly used to make charcoal. The mangroves are now protected so they can no longer make charcoal out of the mangrove wood.
The Crocodile Cave
The boat passed through a small cave known as Crocodile Cave. This cave got its name because some of the local people thought that some of the rocks looked like a crocodile. No fear of giant reptiles in this cave.
Looking through the cave to the other side.
Some of the formations inside of the cave.
Another tour boat following us through the cave.
Rivers passing through the mangroves can be important means of navigation for many inland and island areas. Here they joined two river systems together by blasting a passage through a small rock mountain. Now they can travel from one part of the island to another without having to enter the open sea.
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