Hongshulin Mangroves

Hongshulin means mangroves in Mandarin Chinese. Yesterday we took the MRT train to Hongshulin station. We met our friend Stacy there and together we walked along a wooden path through a mangrove swamp. Mangroves are coastal habitats that form where mud collects along the shore in an area protected from strong waves.
The seeds of many mangrove plants germinate on the tree. When the seed pod has produced roots, it drops from the tree and floats to a place where it can sink its roots into the mud and grow.
We saw mudskippers. Mudskippers are fish that thrive out of water in wet, muddy environments. We saw them flipping about in shallow muddy water.
We also saw fiddler crabs. The males have one large claw and one small one. They wave their claws around to attract female crabs. If they break a big claw, they will grow another one. Fiddler crabs live in burrows. When they are feeding they look like they are playing a fiddle (violin).
The photos of the crab and the mudskipper come from other websites--our photos were not very clear.

UPDATE: Gardening Australia had a segment on mangrove ecosystems on 20/10. You can watch it from the link here.
The mangrove trees at Hongshulin were not as tall as the Australian ones. The Hongshulin mangroves are mangroves of the Kandelia candel species.