
Some of the islands we’ve visited have tidal lagoons in their interiors that serve as mangrove nurseries.  We explored the one on Conception Island with our dinghy.  Relatively deep (3-4 feet) channels wound around brilliantly white sand flats that were dry at low water and dotted with small mangroves.  In the picture above you can see a progression of mangrove growth from right 

to left, starting with tiny new mangroves, just a single stalk with a couple of leaves on top, and ending with larger plants with multiple branches and well-developed root systems.  There also were stands of mature mangroves in the deeper water, like this beauty to the right.  Just in front of the tree was a miniature blue hole, about fifty feet across and thirty feet deep, quite a difference from the otherwise shallow water here.  Not only was this whole area a nursery for mangroves, but the mangroves themselves constitute nurseries for fish, which you can see swimming around the mangrove roots in the picture to the left.
 
VERY COOL!
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