Biscayne National Park - Nursery Grounds

Carried on the currents that flow between the islands are enormous numbers of fish eggs, baby lobsters and shrimp, and the young of many other types of animals. When these tiny organisms reach the underwater meadows, they settle down, to grow up within the protection of the undulating grass, Between April and November, trillions of shrimp pour into the bay, when they grow rapidly, more than an inch a month, until they are sex inches or bigger. Then they leave through the island passes, headed for the Atlantic to spawn and renew the cycle.

From birth to death, shrimp lead a precarious life. It currents carry them away from the nursery grounds before they are mature, their lives are swift to end. If not swept away by currents, they may be faced with another danger: being snapped up by a snapper, grouper, tarpon, snook, or other predatory fish. If they manage to dodge such enemies, the shrimp must still contend with schools of green-eyed opalescent squid. Hurling their jet-propelled bodies into hordes of shrimp, the squid lash out with their tentacles and draw the prey into their beaks. Many shrimp are lost this way every season, yet the sheer numbers born every year triumph over the losses.

By day, the shrimp fan their way to the bottom with their gills and cover themselves with a blanket of sand. At night they kick their way out and join the dance of other nocturnal creatures in the sea grass meadows, their stalked bulbous eyes glowing in the moonlight like hot red coals. Foraging about in the grass, the shrimp grasp bristle worms, clams, and other minute creatures in their tiny pincers.

Sponges don't dance about; now do they forage. But though these plantlike animals lie seemingly inert on the meadow floor, they are constantly at work, pumping water through their bodies and straining out bits of food; to gain just one ounce, a sponge off sponges. Stinging bristle worms crawl through their inner cavities, and thousands of transparent snapping shrimp, fully grown at less than an inch, live inside. Each shrimp has one relatively large claw, similar to a lobster's, that sounds a warning click when intruders venture too close. Stone crabs have claws too, but theirs are shovels, used to dig snug, hidden homes beneath the sponges.

Harvesting of sponges, now banned, was once a way of life on Biscayne Bay. Fishermen patrolled the bay in small skiffs, searching for the dark, round shapes. With poles ending in hooks, they jabbed at the base of a sponge until it broke loose from the bottom. The sponges were dried on webbed racks, then soaked in seawater to get rid of the "meat." The result was a sponge that far outlasts any synthetic product.