Dedicated to Senegal, a West-African country that houses and introduced me to countless beautiful mangroves throughout my High-school years.

What are mangroves?

Mangroves are small shrubs or trees that grow in salt water. They are the habitats for countless different species in about one hundred and eighteen countries!

They are usually found in tropical and subtropical areas all over the world such as Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia and many other places.

These trees have roots that reach deep underwater and systems that allow them to filter out the salt from the water they absorb. As a result, mangroves are considered to be salt-tolerant trees.

Mangroves are able to adapt to certain harsh conditions. They survive in waterlogged mud with little oxygen, and so they are considered to be anoxic.

They also store water in their leaves by closing the opening of their pores to seal in fresh water. The openings of these pores are called stomatas.

Black mangroves have special roots on higher ground that look like tubes. These are called pneumatophores because they allow the mangroves to breathe air even though part of the roots are underwater.

On the other hand, red mangroves also have roots that are above the ground. These are a little lower than black mangroves, which absorb air through lenticels, which are pores in their bark.

Mangrove forests are also habitats for different animals, including a few endangered species such as olive ridley turtles and dugongs.

Mangroves are often covered with barnacles.

       Barnacles tend to latch on to the roots of the mangroves since they need a hard surface to stick to when they feed themselves underwater. As a result, mangrove roots tend to be covered all over with countless of them.

Mangroves help the environment in a lot of different ways; they prevent the erosion of coastlines by holding the soil from tides in place and trap pollutants.

These trees also provide habitats, food, and nutrients for various different animals.