1. Biodiversity of Alabama: 100 Species to Know Common Aquatic Species

2. Freshwater Species

3. 37. Cattails Grow around wet areas
Female flowers are brown, male flowers above them
Brown stalk becomes fluffy, seeds dispersed by wind
Important habitat for animals (protection, nesting)

4. 38. Cahaba Lily Hymenocallis coronaria
Requires fast-moving water (shoals)
Numbers declining due to damming of rivers
Only blooms for a few weeks in May/June – Cahaba Lily festival
Each flower blooms for a single day

5. 39. Phytoplankton
Microscopic green plants that float in the water, many different species
Important for two reasons:
1. they are the producers that form the base of aquatic food chains
2. they produce a lot of oxygen in photosynthesis

6. 40. Zooplankton
Microscopic animals that float in the water, many species but one common type here are copepods (crustaceans related to shrimp)
Important as primary consumers in aquatic food chains:
phytoplankton  zooplankton  small fish  large fish

7. 41. Dragonfly Territorial, predatory insects
Nymphs (immature insects) live in the water, wingless, emerges as a winged adult after metamorphosis
Nymphs are an important food source for many aquatic predators, like fish, frogs, turtles,
Nymph lives underwater, is a predator
Adult flies around ponds, catches prey on the wing

8. 42. Least Crayfish
Common crustacean in sluggish waters
Scavenger
Alabama has 83 species of crayfish, more than any other state

9. 43. Water strider
A true bug (hemiptera)
“Walks on water” due to water’s surface tension

10. 44. American Bullfrog Rana catesbiana Very common near ponds
Very large, noisy greenish brown frog
Carnivore – eats anything it can catch and stuff in its mouth (insects, worms, small turtles, frogs, even birds and small rodents)

11. 45. Yellow-bellied slider
Trachemys scripta scripta
Very common in rivers, ponds
Yellow underside of shell, lines on top
Diurnal – active in the day, often basks on logs in water
Omnivores – growing young eat more animals, adults eat more plants
Sometimes sold as pets

12. 46. Alligator snapping turtle
Macrochelys temminckii
Largest freshwater turtle in North America (100+ pounds), found only in south
Thick neck and heavy body, spiky shell
Ambush predator, sits with mouth open exposing wormlike tongue that lures in prey, then snaps shut on prey

13. 47. Bluegill Sunfish (common name: brim)
Lepomis macrochirus
Name comes from dark blue flap on gill cover
Unusual because the male builds a nest (scooped-out depression on muddy bottom) and tends to the eggs

14. 48. Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus
Has distinctive “whiskers” or barbels
Feed on insect larvae, crayfish, snails, small fish
State record: 40 lbs
Now farmed (aquaculture)
Good eats!
Noodling – not recommended!

15. 49. Crappie
Two types in AL
Crappie live primarily in rivers and reservoirs, although small individuals occasionally enter small streams.
Prior to spawning, adult crappie aggregate into schools, move into shallow water, and aggressively feed on small fish. During this time anglers catch thousands of white and black crappie on live minnows and jigs around aquatic vegetation, submerged logs, and other structures.
Black Crappie
Pomoxis nigromaculatus
White Crappie
Pomoxis annularis

16. 50. Alligator Gar
Atractosteus spatula
Found in Mobile delta, nearby coastal waters
Predator, has two rows of sharp teeth
Gets to be very large, record: 151 pounds

17. 51. Brown Water Snake
Common in southeast AL coastal plain
Found near flowing water of rivers, canals and blackwater cypress creeks, often in trees
Eats mammals but also fish and lizards

18. 52. Mallard Anas platyrhynchos Most common duck in N. America
Lives in AL except in summer when it migrates to breed in northern states
Found in shallow water of ponds, lakes, marshes, and flooded fields where it feeds on plants
Sexual dimorphism – males have green heads

19. 53. Beaver Castor canadensis Once almost extirpated, now common.
Found statewide in all habitats with open water.
Considered a pest in some areas, because of flooding caused by construction of dams.
In April-June, three to five young born after a gestation of about 107 days.
Sexual maturity reached at two years.
Diet includes leaves, branches, and bark of most kinds of woody plants that grow near water. 19

20. Saltwater species

21. 54. Sea Oats Type of grass named for resemblance to oats
Seeds are important food for some beach animals
Help stabilize dunes

22. 55. Blue Crab
Callinectes sapidus
Crustacean, economically important as a food source
Widely distributed along east coast of North and South America

23. 56. Bull Shark Carcharhinus leucas
Large, stocky shark – “pit bulls” of the sea
Can be aggressive, inhabits shallow waters and can go into rivers, known to bite people

24. 57. Bottlenose Dolphin
Tursiops truncatus
Mammal, not fish
Most common cetacean (member of the whale order) on the Gulf Coast
Very intelligent