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Spends part of their time in water, or grows partially submerged in water
The
common frog , one of the most ubiquitous semiaquatic
amphibians in
Europe
Atlantic mudskippers , amphibious fish of
mangrove swamps and
tidal flats
Pachygrapsus marmoratus , a semiterrestrial
crab
Hunting stance of
Dolomedes minor , a semiaquatic
spider
In
biology , being semiaquatic refers to various
macro
organisms that live regularly in both
aquatic and
terrestrial environments . When referring to
animals , the term describes those that actively spend part of their daily time in water (in which case they can also be called amphibious ), or
land animals that have spent at least one
life stages (e.g. as
eggs or
larvae ) in aquatic environments. When referring to
plants , the term describes
land plants whose
roots have adapted well to tolerate regular, prolonged submersion in water, as well as
emergent and (occasionally)
floating-leaved aquatic plants that are only partially immersed in water.
Examples of semiaquatic animals and plants are given below.
Semiaquatic animals
Semi
aquatic animals include:
Vertebrates
Amphibious fish ; also several types of normally fully aquatic fish such as the
grunion and
plainfin midshipman that spawn in the
intertidal zone
Some
amphibians such as
newts and salamanders , and some
frogs such as
fire-bellied toads and
wood frogs .
Some
reptiles such as
crocodilians ,
turtles , water snakes and
marine iguanas .
Waterbirds , especially
penguins ,
waterfowls ,
storks and
shorebirds .
Some rodents such as
beavers ,
muskrats and
capybaras .
Some insectivorous mammals such as
desmans ,
water shrews and
platypuses .
Some carnivoran mammals, including
seals ,
otter and
polar bears .
Some marsupials, including the
water opossum and the two
lutrine opossums .
Hippopotamuses .
Indian rhinoceros .
Water buffalo .
Tapirs .
Semiterrestrial
echinoderms of the intertidal zone, such as the "cliff-clinging"
sea urchin
Colobocentrotus atratus and the
starfish
Pisaster ochraceus
Arthropods
Aquatic insects (e.g.,
dragonflies ) with at least one non-aquatic
life stage (e.g.,
adults ), or amphibious insects (e.g.,
amphibious caterpillars or the ant
Polyrhachis sokolova ).
[note 1] Members of the hemipteran infraorders
Gerromorpha and
Nepomorpha occupy a variety of semiaquatic and aquatic niches, with many of the former locomoting on the water surface; a few of these are marine (e.g.,
Halobates ,
Hermatobates ).
Semiaquatic
springtails , such as
Anurida maritima
Semiterrestrial
malacostracan
crustaceans (e.g., many
crabs , such as
Pachygrapsus marmoratus ,
[note 2] some
amphipods , such as
Orchestia gammarellus , some
isopods , such as
Ligia oceanica and some
barnacles , such as
Balanus glandula )
Horseshoe crabs are mostly aquatic but spawn in the
intertidal zone ; juveniles live in
tidal flats
Semiaquatic
spiders , such as
Ancylometes or
Dolomedes (these are distinct from the almost fully aquatic
Argyroneta )
An amphibious
centipede ,
Scolopendra cataracta
Semiaquatic
annelids , such as the
earthworm
Sparganophilus
Molluscs
Semiterrestrial
flatworms of the intertidal zone, such as the
acotylean
Myoramyxa pardalota
[4]
Semiaquatic plants
The
common reed , a ubiquitous semiaquatic
angiosperm of the
grass family
The
white Egyptian lotus
Semi
aquatic
plants include:
Semiaquatic
angiosperms (e.g.,
mangroves ,
water spinach ,
water cabbage , and the entire order
Nymphaeales )
Semiaquatic
conifers , such as
pond cypress
Semi
aquatic ferns , such as
Pilularia americana
A semiaquatic
horsetail ,
Equisetum fluviatile
Semiaquatic
quillworts , such as
Isoetes melanospora
Semiaquatic
club mosses , such as
Lycopodiella inundata
Semiaquatic
mosses , such as
Sphagnum macrophyllum
Semiaquatic
liverworts , such as
Riccia fluitans
Notes
References
^ Battiston, R.; Puttaswamaiah, R.; Manjunath, N. (2018).
"The fishing mantid: predation on fish as a new adaptive strategy for praying mantids (Insecta: Mantodea)" . Journal of Orthoptera Research . 27 (2): 155–158.
doi :
10.3897/jor.27.28067 .
^ Tan, C.G.S.; Ng, P.K.L. (1995). "Geosesarma notophorum sp. nov. (Decapoda, Brachyura, Grapsidae, Sesarminae), a Terrestrial Crab from Sumatra, with Novel Brooding Behaviour". Crustaceana . 68 (3): 390–395.
doi :
10.1163/156854095X00557 .
^ Burggren, W.W.; McMahon, B.R., eds. (1988).
Biology of the Land Crabs . Cambridge University Press. pp. 53–54.
ISBN
978-0521306904 .
^ Newman, L.J.; Cannon, L.R.G. (1997-06-30).
"A new semi-terrestrial acotylean flatworm, Myoramyxa pardalota gen. et sp. nov. (Plehniidae Polycladida) from southeast Queensland, Australia" .
Memoirs of the Queensland Museum . 42 (1): 311–314. Retrieved 2018-08-14 .