The Fresh Water Biome

Questions for the Experts

• What percent of animals live or feed off fresh water?
• Why do certain animals live in fresh water and certain in marine and why can't they switch?
• How long (or average age) does a fish live?
• Where do they go when they die? (their bodies)
• What are some adaptations an animal needs to live in fresh water?
• What types of animals live in the freshwater biome?
• Why don't lakes and streams get saltier over time like oceans do?
• What types of animals live in fresh water?
• What are some special adaptations that the plants which live in fresh water need in order to survive?
• Why is a lake said to be fresh water when it is connected to a salt water ocean?
• If a freshwater animal goes into salt water will it die immediately or over a period of time?
• What, if any, animals can live in salt and fresh water?
• If large amounts of salt were put into a fresh water lake would it become salt water or change back?
• Which is the most common animal in a fresh water lake?
• What is the largest fresh water animal?
• How do the animals survive the cold water in winter?
• How did you get started in the fresh water subject?
• What does it take to be a specialist in fresh water?
• What is the loudest frog found in fresh water?
• Are there any heterotroph plants?
• What is the smallest, edible animal that lives in fresh water?

This biome is found all over the world on every continent.

In the mountains landslides may fill stream beds with earth and rock causing ponds to form. Erosion tends to destroy ponds, but sometimes it creates depressions that fill with water. Natural ponds often form near the deltas of rivers when silt deposits become high enough to dam off parts of the stream. They also form behind barrier dunes on ocean beaches.

Some animals in this biome are the water boatman, ramshorn snail, bream, pike, roach, belted kingfisher, mountain chickadee, bass, sunfish, aquatic insects, trout, mussel, blackfly larva, brook trout, caddisfly, mayfly, and rainbow trout.

In the freshwater biome there are shallow water zones along the shore, an open water zone where light is insufficient for photosynthesis, a deep water zone which is less dense, and a bottom zone which is made of soft mud and silt. The shallow water zone is the warmest because it gets the most light. The bottom water zone is the coldest because very little sunlight gets to it.

The plants that dominate the freshwater biome are algae, water moss, and plant plankton.

Amos, William H. The Life of the Pond. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company,

1967.