DISCOVERING EVERGLADES PLANTS AND ANIMALS (continued)

Animals without Backbones

Insects are the most noticeable of the park's invertebrates. (At times you may find your can of repellent as important as your shoes!) In all the fresh-water and brackish environments, insects and their larvae are important links in the food chains—at the beginning as primary consumers of algae and other plant material, and farther along as predators, mostly on other insects. Some insects are parasites on the park's warmblooded animals (including you).

The invertebrates most sought by visitors are molluscs—or rather, their shells. You may find a few on the beach at Cape Sable, but don't expect to find the park a productive shelling area. Stick to marine shells—dead ones. You cannot collect the fresh-water molluscs. Also protected are the tree snails of jungle hammocks. Famed for their beauty, these snails of the genus Liguus, which grow to as much as 2-1/2 inches in diameter, feed upon the lichens growing on certain hammock trees. Look for them—but leave them undisturbed, for they are a part of the community, protected just as are the park's royal palms and its alligators.

For more information on the tree snails, insects, and other animals without backbones, and on the park's fishes and land vertebrates, read Robertson's Everglades—The Park Story.