Every Sunday morning for the last few months, I take a walk on our local beach while my girl is torturously put through a training session for an up coming event. We head down to the local lake and beach early in the morning (before 7am). In the early morning light, the sun having risen only half an hour earlier, it is glorious to see such natural beauty – sand bars and channels where the lake meets the ocean, crystal blue water, water birds, clouds, the crashing waves, the beach stretched out in front of us, the rock headland and shapes of islands in the distance.
As I took a walk on the beach on Sunday morning two weeks ago, I observed the debris that has been washed up – shells, coral (some huge lumps, larger than our Maltese), driftwood, algae and mangrove seed pods. I have observed small number of the bright green, round seed pods of the most common mangrove species in South East Queensland – Avicennia marina, the Grey Mangrove. This particular time I was amazed to see that a huge number of these bright green seed pods had been washed up. As I walked south wards, the high tide line in the sand was littered with these pods. Thousands had been washed up. I also was rather fascinated to observed one long, slim, dark green seed pod of another common mangrove species to South East Queensland, Rhizophora stylosa, the Red Mangrove.
I have had a fascination with mangroves for many years and it was sparked by a book on mangroves I received as a prize in a high school science completion. The biology and habitat is very interesting. And I think it rather awesome to see mangroves lining creeks, estuarine waterways and rivers in the cities and towns that I have lived and worked in, including Queensland’s capital city, Brisbane.
References
Qld Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Moreton Bay Mangrove Species
Sapphicscientist's Blog 