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“Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly....” Those are the opening lines to a song from the musical Show Boat.
And many fish and birds choose to swim in and fly over the Mississippi. The Mississippi River valley provides habitat for 241 fish species, 37 mussel species, 45 amphibian species, and 50 mammal species. It’s also habitat for 60 percent of the nation’s migratory birds.
▲ Mississippi Flyway
Every year, millions of birds fly along the Mississippi River and its tributaries during their fall and spring migrations. Ducks, pelicans, swans, and cormorants use the river’s large open-water pools. Many songbirds, geese, black terns, herons, and egrets use shallow backwater wetlands. Bottomland forests support songbirds, ospreys, herons, egrets, mallards, and wood ducks. Some of these are migrating. Others are nesting. Shown above are Canada geese traveling along the flyway.
▲ Bowfin
The north–south orientation of the river meant that during glacial periods, fish could retreat to the warmer lower river. Then, when the water warmed up, they could return north. The fossil records of many Mississippi River fish date back 5 to 25 million years. Some ancient fish species that predate the glaciers are still living in the Upper Mississippi River. They include long- and short-nosed gar, sturgeon, paddlefish, crappie, and spotted bass. The bowfin is the only remaining representative of a family of fish from the Jurassic Period, 180 million years ago. A swim bladder allows them to breathe air, so they can live in stagnant water that would kill most other fish.
▲ Mussels
Pink heelsplitter, wabash, pigtoe, and fat mucket are four mussel species native to the river. Nonnative zebra mussels are threatening native species. Zebra mussels pile on top of native mussels, suffocating them.
▲ Great Egret
The Upper Mississippi is a nesting and feeding area for great blue herons and great egrets. The birds use their beaks to spear fish, which they swallow whole.
▲ Silver Maple
There are many different species of trees that grow and thrive in the Mississippi River floodplain. However, the predominant species is the silver maple tree.
▲ Least Tern
Along the Lower Mississippi River, the endangered least tern is making an amazing comeback. Its numbers have increased from 2,000 in 1989 to about 20,000 today.
◀ Crayfish
Also called crawfish or crawdads, these creatures are closely related to lobsters. When eaten, they are used in bisque (a thick soup) or eaten with the fingers.
▲ Louisiana Black Bear
A subspecies of the black bear, the Louisiana Black Bear was heavily hunted, and its woodland habitats were logged and converted to farmland. As a result, these animals were placed on the U.S. Endangered Species List.
◀ Troubled Waters
The health of the Mississippi River, like that of many rivers, deteriorated over the years. Pollution, such as farm wastes, industrial wastes, and sewage from cities spilled into the river. These pollutants endangered the health of humans using the river. They also limited the diversity (number of different kinds) of animal and plant life in and along the river. Pollution from pesticides caused birds to lay eggs with thin shells that cracked easily. Thanks to tougher government regulations and the efforts of volunteers and conservation groups, the river is cleaner today than it’s been in 40 years. However, much more work still needs to be done to protect and preserve the mighty Mississippi.
