1 / 18

Living Things in the St. Johns River

Explore the diverse plant and animal life in the St. Johns River, including tape grass, water naiad, widgeon grass, muskgrass, spikerush, water thyme, baby's tears, sago pondweed, small pondweed, awl-leaf arrowhead, horned pondweed, blue crab, jellyfish, sea cucumber, ribbon worm, and brittle star.

oshiro
Download Presentation

Living Things in the St. Johns River

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Living Things in the St. Johns River

  2. Plants Tape grass (Vallisneriaamericana) • Teeth on edge of leaves • Leaves flat, tape-like; 0.5-4 cm wide • Leaves taper at tip • No obvious stem • Height: 4-90 cm (a small one can be confused with Sagittariasubulata)

  3. Plants Water naiad (Najasguadalupensis) • Leaf whorls not tightly packed • Leaf pairs/whorls separated by large spaces on stem • Leaves opposite, usually in pairs, sometimes in whorls of three • Leaves with teeth (must look closely); 2 mm wide

  4. Plants Widgeon grass (Ruppiamaritima) • Leaves alternate, tapering at end • Leaves thread-like; 0.5 mm wide • Height: 4-20 cm

  5. Plants Muskgrass (Chara sp.) • Leaf whorls separated by conspicuous spaces • Leaf not forked • Leaves stiff and scratchy to touch • Height: 2-8 cm

  6. Plants Spikerush (Eleocharis sp.) • No teeth on leaves • Leaves round, pencil-like; 1-3 mm wide • Leaves as broad at tip as at base • Height: 1-5 cm

  7. Plants Water thyme (Hydrilla verticillata) • Leaf whorls tightly packed • Leaves opposite, in whorls of four to eight leaves • Leaves with conspicuous teeth, making plant scratchy to the touch • Leaf tip pointed; leaves 2-4 mm wide • Height: 5-15 cm

  8. Plants Baby’s-tears (Micranthemum sp.) • Leaf whorls not tightly packed • Leaf opposite, in whorls of three to four leaves • No teeth on leaves • Leaf tip rounded; 2-4 mm wide • Height: 2-15 cm

  9. Plants Sago pondweed (Potamogetonpectinatus) • Leaves alternate; 0.5-4.5 cm wide • No teeth on leaves • Leaves long and narrowing with pointed tips • Stems thread-like • Height: 5-20 cm

  10. Plants Small pondweed (Potamogetonpusillus) • Leaves alternate; 0.5-3 mm wide • No teeth on leaves • Leaves long and narrow with blunted or rounded tips • Stems thread-like • Height: 5-20 cm

  11. Plants Awl-leaf arrowhead (Sagittariasubulata) • No teeth on leaves • Leaves triangular, spongy; 3-8 mm wide • Leaves taper at tip • Height: 1-5 cm

  12. Plants Horned pondweed (Zannichelliapalustris) • Leaves opposite • No teeth on leaves • Long narrow leaves with blunted tips • Stems thread-like • Often seen with kidney-shaped fruit • Height: 1-8 cm

  13. Animals Blue Crab • Has an exoskeleton, which they periodically have to shed (molt) so they can continue to grow. • Their body is divided into three sections – the head, thorax and abdomen. • The head and thorax are fused together and covered by the carapace.

  14. Animals Jellyfish • Have stinging cells • Free-moving, floating organisms

  15. Animals Sea Cucumber • Able to regenerate certain parts of their anatomy • Have a skeleton under the surface • Typically scavengers

  16. Animals Ribbon Worm • Capture prey at their head • Can be up to 30 meters long

  17. Animals Brittle Star • Have arms

  18. References Pinto, G., Bielmyer-Fraser, G.K., Goldberg, N., Ouellette, A., Le, A., Pyati, R., Zoellner, B., Closmann, C. (2018/19). 2019 State of the River Report for the Lower St. Johns River Basin, Florida: Water Quality, Fisheries, Aquatic Life, & Contaminants (LSJR). Prepared for the City of Jacksonville, Environmental Protection Board. https://sjrreport.com.

More Related