The fauna of water bodies is divided into two main groups according to their habitat. The first is zooplankton, and the second is benthos. Zooplankton lives directly in the water column, and benthos inhabits the bottom of the reservoir. Separate groups form organisms that live on certain objects, underwater plants, as well as fish. So, plants and animals of water bodies - what are they?
Plants
They inhabited the entire aquatic environment. In lakes and streams, in ponds and channels, the most diverse representatives of the world of flora grow and multiply. Over millions of years of their evolution, they have perfectly adapted to living conditions in water bodies. Some of them are completely submerged in water, while others grow above its smooth surface. Some of them even live on the border between water, land and air. Let's talk about the most famous of them.
Ayr marsh
It forms large thickets in shallow water. Its leaves are powerful and sword-shaped. Reach lengths up to 1.5 meters. Calamus marsh has a long rhizome, covered with traces ofdead leaves. These rhizomes are a well-known cure for certain diseases. It is used both in cooking (spices) and in cosmetics.
Lake reeds
This plant is centered on wetlands. Its rhizome is creeping and has a hollow interior. A thick cylindrical stem rises to a height of 2 meters. It is crowned with characteristic brown spikelets collected in a panicle. Short and hard leaves are located at the bottom of the stem of the reed. The thickets of this plant sometimes surround the reservoir with an impenetrable wall, presenting its inhabitants with a reliable shelter.
Water lily
This plant is rarely seen in flowing waters. It mainly grows in swamps, ponds, backwaters and oxbows. Its powerful rhizome has strong adventitious roots, and oval leaves, sitting on long petioles, float on the water. One of the most beautiful water plants is the white water lily. She is the subject of many poetic works and legends.
Own ecosystem
As you know, the living conditions in different types of water bodies are also different. That is why the species composition of animals living in flowing waters differs significantly from the animal world that settled exclusively in stagnant water. Within the framework of this article, of course, we will not be able to describe the entire diversity of this fauna, but we will note the main groups of animals inhabiting such reservoirs.
Zooplankton
These are the most popularanimals living in water bodies. The term "zooplankton" is commonly used to refer to the simplest microorganisms: ciliates, amoeba, flagella, rhizomes. They serve as food for fry and other small aquatic animals. These organisms are small enough that they cannot be seen with the human eye, because a microscope is needed for this. Consider them on the example of an amoeba.
Amoeba ordinary
This creature is known to every person who has reached school age. Amoebas are animals of reservoirs (photo in the article), which are convinced unicellular loners. You can find these creatures almost anywhere where there is water and particles suitable for food: bacteria, small relatives, dead organic matter.
Amoebas, or rhizopods, are picky creatures. They live in lakes and seas, crawling on aquatic plants. Sometimes they settle in the intestines of vertebrates. Amoebas also have their overseas relatives. These are the so-called foraminifera. They inhabit exclusively marine waters.
cladocerans
Zooplankton of stagnant waters is represented mainly by the so-called cladocerans. These creatures look like this. Their shortened body is enclosed in a shell consisting of two valves. Their head is covered with a shell on top, to which two pairs of special antennae are attached. The hind antennae of these crustaceans are well developed and play the role of fins.
Each such tendril is divided into two branches with thick feathery bristles. They serve to increase the surface of swimmingorgans. On their body under the shell there are up to 6 pairs of swimming legs. Branched crustaceans are typical animals of water bodies, their sizes do not exceed 5 millimeters. These creatures are an indispensable part of the ecosystem of the reservoir, because they are food for young fish. So let's move on to the fish.
Pike
The pike and its prey (the fish it feeds on) are fresh water animals. This is a typical predator, widespread in our country. Like other organisms, pikes feed differently at different stages of their development. Their fry, just hatched from eggs, live directly in shallow water, in shallow bays. It is these waters that are rich in their ecosystem.
Here, pike fry begin to feed intensively on the same crustaceans and the simplest microorganisms that we talked about above. After two weeks, the fry pass to insect larvae, leeches and worms. Plants and animals in the water bodies of our country are different in different regions. We say this to the fact that not so long ago, ichthyologists discovered an interesting feature: squints living in central Russia, from the age of two months, give their preference to young perch and roach.
From now on, the diet of young pike begins to expand noticeably. She gladly eats tadpoles, frogs, large fish (sometimes twice as big as herself!) And even small birds. Sometimes pikes engage in cannibalism: they eat their fellows. It is worth noting that fish and zooplankton are not the only animals living in water bodies. Consider otherstheir inhabitants.
Silverfish
Its second name is water spider. This is a spider-like creature common throughout Europe, which differs from its relatives in swimming bristles on its hind legs and three claws on them. He earned his name due to the fact that his abdomen under water glows with a silver light. The spider does not sink thanks to a special water-repellent substance. You can meet him in stagnant or slowly flowing waters.
The silver spider feeds on a variety of small animals that get tangled in the threads of its underwater cobweb. Sometimes he catches his own prey. If his catch turned out to be more than usual, he carefully completes the excess in his underwater nest. By the way, the spider makes its nest by attaching threads to underwater objects. It is open downwards, the water spider fills it with air, turning it into a so-called diving bell.
Common pond snail
Animals that live in water bodies are largely known to us thanks to the school textbook of zoology. Here and an ordinary pond snail is no exception. These large snails belong to the lung molluscs. They live throughout Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. The largest species of pond snails lives in Russia. The size of this snail is a variable value, since it completely depends on certain conditions of existence.
His "house" is a one-piece shell with a single hole at the bottom. As a rule, it is twisted in a spiral for 5-7 turns and expands downwards. Inside the shell is a fleshy mucous body. From time to time itprotrudes outward, forming a head above and a wide and flat foot below. With the help of this leg, the pond snail glides over plants and underwater objects, as if on a ski.
It was not in vain that we noted that ordinary pond snails belong to lung mollusks. The fact is that these animals of fresh water bodies breathe atmospheric air, just like you and me. With the help of their “legs”, pond snails stick to the underside of the water diaper, open their breathing hole, taking in air. No, they do not have lungs, they have a so-called lung cavity under the skin. It is in it that the collected air is stored and consumed.
Frrogs and toads
Aquatic animals are not limited to microorganisms, snails and other small invertebrates. Along with fish in lakes and ponds, you can also see amphibians - frogs and toads. Their tadpoles swim almost all summer in fresh water reservoirs. In the spring, amphibians arrange "concerts": with the help of their resonator bags, they bawl at the whole neighborhood, laying eggs in the water.
Reptiles
If we talk about which animals of the reservoirs are reptiles, then here, no doubt, we can note an ordinary grass snake. His whole lifestyle is directly related to the search for food. He hunts frogs. For humans, these snakes do not pose any harm. Unfortunately, many ignorant people kill snakes, mistaking them for poisonous snakes. Because of this, the number of these animals is significantly reduced. Moreone aquatic reptile is, for example, the red-eared turtle. It is she who is kept in terrariums by amateur naturalists.
Birds
Plants and animals of water bodies are largely interconnected with each other, because the former protect the latter! This is especially clear in the case of birds. The attraction of birds to water bodies is largely due to the high food supply of these places, as well as excellent protective conditions (reeds and sedge make the birds invisible). The bulk of these animals is based on anseriformes (geese, ducks, swans), passerines, copepods, grebes, storks and charadriiformes.
Mammals
Where without them! Representatives of this class of animals embraced the entire globe, spreading wherever possible: in the air (bats), in water (whales, dolphins), on the ground (tigers, elephants, giraffes, dogs, cats), underground (shrews, moles). Despite this, there are not so many mammals associated with fresh and stagnant waters on the territory of our country.
Some of them spend almost their entire lives in water bodies, not leaving them a single step (muskrat, weasel, otter, muskrat, beaver), while others prefer not to stay in water, but next to it (water voles). Such animals have well-developed swimming membranes between their toes, and special valves are located in the ears and nostrils that plug these vital openings while the animal is immersed in water.
