Things To Do in Jupiter: Mangroves! Mangroves! Mangroves!

1/20/22

Things To Do in Jupiter

What is a mangrove?

(Photos/Bill DiPaolo)

Fingerlike, spooky, tough and loved by wildlife, mangroves are salt-tolerant plants that hug the shore along Jupiter Inlet waterways.

You’ve likely seen their seedlings, greenish sticklings bobbing in the waves.

They float horizontally for a month or so after dropping from the tree.

The tip then drops downward so it can grab sand when it comes ashore.

Roots first appear in about 10 days.

Mangroves make their homes in shady coastal areas in water-logged mud. You can recognize them by their thick tangle of roots. Stilt-like, the roots grip the ground to stabilize them during tidal changes.

Mangroves line more than 1,800 miles of Florida shoreline.