What Kind Of Animals Live In Lakes

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Updated September xxx, 2021

Past Bister D. Walker

Reviewed by: Sylvie Tremblay, 1000.Sc. Molecular Biology and Genetics

What lives in a lake? The Globe is a watery planet, and lakes - saltwater and freshwater, natural and man-made - can be found all over its surface. Almost two-thirds of the globe is covered in water, and while most of this is bounding main, the number of lakes is considerable. Washington State alone has more than 7,800 lakes; the state of Minnesota has more than 12,000 of them. Lake ecosystems are home to many varieties of constitute and animal life, including familiar aquatic species that can be found in other similar habitats, such as ponds and rivers.

Lake Plants

Aquatic plants like cattails and pickerelweed often live in or around lakes. There are several species of cattails - also known equally bulrushes - famous for their fuzzy, elongated exteriors. Pickerelweed is less well-known. It is an aquatic constitute which lives in or around streams, ponds and lakes.

Pickerelweed grows to 3 or four feet tall, but one or 2 anxiety of the plant's length will remain underwater while the rest grows into the sun. Pickerelweed is distinctive for its bright purple flowers, which abound on big protruding spikes. The flowers are quite small and grow in clusters. Pickerelweed flowers begin to bloom in July and continue going until November.

Various wildlife can consume pickerelweed leaves, including deer, geese, ducks and muskrats. The plants can also provide a protective cover for fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians.

Fish That Live in Lakes

Too many fish varieties live in lakes to be listed here. Lake fish species can include trout, salmon, bass, catfish and perch. The northern throughway is a common freshwater fish found in lakes all over the globe. In the United states of america, major northern pike populations alive in the Great Lakes Basin, New England, Alaska, Arizona and even northern New Mexico.

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, pikes live in well-nigh all of the state's streams and lakes. Pikes are meat-eaters and are a favorite of fishermen considering they are so voracious that they will easily take the bait of a lure. Nigh pikes weight around 2 or three pounds, but trophy pikes take been caught weighing more than than 20 pounds.

H2o Snakes

Several kinds of snakes alive near lakes. The virtually feared is the poisonous h2o moccasin, also known as a cottonmouth. Water moccasins are the only poisonous aquatic snakes in North America, and are a type of pit viper.

The Lake Erie h2o snake should non be dislocated with the highly deadly h2o moccasin. Though the Lake Erie water ophidian will defend itself by biting if threatened, it is nowhere near as dangerous. Adults tin grow to be between xviii and 42 inches long. Information technology typically has a gray coloring with a white underside, although it tin too be green or chocolate-brown.

The Lake Erie water snake does not actually live in the lake but rather near the edges of the water. Its favorite sunning spots are rocks and other handy surfaces on the shore. Lake Erie water snakes can and will swim, however. These snakes tin swim both beyond the surface of the water as well as dive to the bottom of the lake. Lake Erie water snakes usually eat fish and may interbreed with the Northern water serpent.

Other Lake Animals and Insects

As well fish and snakes, there are many other types of animals that alive in and around the freshwater habitat of a lake. These include mammals like mink, beaver and otter, and birds like heron, geese and ducks.

Insect life in and near lakes includes water bugs, dragonflies and water beetles. Water striders appear to walk on the surface of the h2o with their long legs, and h2o boatmen have oar-shaped structures on their back legs that help them swim in lakes, ponds and rivers. Insects are prey for many of the fish and mammals that live in lakes.

Source: https://sciencing.com/what-type-of-plants-animals-live-in-lakes-12394715.html

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