biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, semiaquatic can refer to various types of animals that spend part of their time in water, or plants that naturally grow partially submerged in water. Examples are given below.

Semiaquatic animals

Semi

aquatic animal An aquatic animal is any animal, whether invertebrate or vertebrate, that lives in water for most or all of its lifetime. Many insects such as mosquitoes, mayflies, dragonflies and caddisflies have aquatic larvae, with winged adults. Aquatic ani ...

s include: *

Vertebrates Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with c ...

** Amphibious fish; also several types of normally fully aquatic fish such as the

grunion Grunion are two fish species of the genus ''Leuresthes'': the California grunion, ''L. tenuis'', and the Gulf grunion, ''L. sardinas''. They are sardine-sized teleost fishes of the New World silverside family Atherinopsidae, found only off ...

and plainfin midshipman that spawn in the intertidal zone ** Some amphibians such as newts and salamanders, and some frogs such as fire-bellied toads and

wood frogs ''Lithobates sylvaticus'' or ''Rana sylvatica'', commonly known as the wood frog, is a frog species that has a broad distribution over North America, extending from the boreal forest of the north to the southern Appalachians, with several nota ...

. ** Some reptiles such as

crocodilians Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period (Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...

turtles Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tur ...

, water snakes and marine iguanas. **

Penguins Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...

. ** Some rodents such as

beavers Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...

muskrats The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and hab ...

and

capybaras The capybaraAlso called capivara (in Brazil), capiguara (in Bolivia), chigüire, chigüiro, or fercho (in Colombia and Venezuela), carpincho (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and ronsoco (in Peru). or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydro ...

. **Some insectivorous mammals such as

desmans The desman, a snouted and naked-tailed diving insectivore of the tribe Desmanini (also considered a subfamily, Desmaninae), belongs to one of two Eurasian species of the mole family, Talpidae. This tribe consists of two monotypic genera of semi ...

, water shrews and

platypuses The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotyp ...

. ** Some carnivoran mammals, including seals,

polar bears The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

and

otters Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes weas ...

. **

Hippopotamuses The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

. * Semiterrestrial

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the s ...

s of the intertidal zone, such as the "cliff-clinging" sea urchin ''

Colobocentrotus atratus ''Colobocentrotus atratus'', the helmet urchin or shingle urchin, is a species of sea urchin in the family Echinometridae. In Hawaii it is known as "hāʻukeʻuke." It is found on wave-swept intertidal shores in the Indo-West Pacific, particular ...

'' and the starfish '' Pisaster ochraceus'' *

Arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

s ** Aquatic insects (e.g.,

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

) with at least one nonaquatic life-cycle stage (e.g., adults), or amphibious insects (e.g., amphibious caterpillars or the ant '' Polyrhachis sokolova''). Members of the hemipteran infraorders

Gerromorpha The Gerromorpha comprise an infraorder of insects in the "true bug" order Hemiptera. These "typical" bugs (suborder Heteroptera) are commonly called semiaquatic bugs or shore-inhabiting bugs. The Ochteroidea (infraorder Nepomorpha are also foun ...

and Nepomorpha occupy a variety of semiaquatic and aquatic niches, with many of the former locomoting on the water surface; a few of these are marine (e.g., '' Halobates'', '' Hermatobates''). ** Semiaquatic

springtail Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects (the other two are the Protura and Diplura). Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called Ento ...

s, such as '' Anurida maritima'' ** Semiterrestrial

malacostraca Malacostraca (from New Latin; ) is the largest of the six classes of crustaceans, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members, the malacostracans, display a great diversity of body forms and include crabs, l ...

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s (e.g., many crabs, such as ''

Pachygrapsus marmoratus ''Pachygrapsus marmoratus'' is a species of crab, sometimes called the marbled rock crab or marbled crab, which lives in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean. It is dark violet brown, with yellow marbling, and w ...

'', some amphipods, such as '' Orchestia gammarellus'', some isopods, such as ''

Ligia oceanica ''Ligia oceanica'', the sea slater, common sea slater, or sea roach, is a littoral zone woodlouse, living on rocky seashores of the European North Sea and Atlantic coastlines. ''L. oceanica'' is oval, twice as long as broad, and may reach up to ...

'' and some barnacles, such as ''

Balanus glandula ''Balanus glandula'' (North American Acorn Barnacle, Common Acorn Barnacle) is one of the most common barnacle species on the Pacific coast of North America, distributed from the U.S. state of Alaska to Bahía de San Quintín near San Quintín, ...

'') **

Horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to ar ...

s are mostly aquatic but spawn in the intertidal zone; juveniles live in tidal flats ** Semiaquatic

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s, such as ''

Ancylometes ''Ancylometes'' is a genus of Central and South American semiaquatic wandering spiders first described by Philipp Bertkau in 1880. Originally placed with the nursery web spiders, it was moved to the Ctenidae in 1967. The genus name is derived ...

'' or ''

Dolomedes ''Dolomedes'' is a genus of large spiders of the family Pisauridae. They are also known as fishing spiders, raft spiders, dock spiders or wharf spiders. Almost all ''Dolomedes'' species are semiaquatic, with the exception of the tree-dwelling ...

'' (these are distinct from the almost fully aquatic ''

Argyroneta The diving bell spider or water spider (''Argyroneta aquatica'') is the only species of spider known to live almost entirely under water. It is the only member of the genus ''Argyroneta''. When out of the water, the spider ranges in colour from m ...

'') ** An amphibious centipede, ''

Scolopendra cataracta ''Scolopendra cataracta'' is a species of centipede in the family Scolopendridae. It is the first known amphibious centipede, growing to up to in length. Discovery George Beccaloni, an entomologist and curator at the Natural History Museum, Lon ...

'' * Semiaquatic annelids, such as the

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. T ...

'' Sparganophilus'' * Molluscs ** Intertidal bivalves, such as ''

Enigmonia ''Enigmonia'' is a genus of saltwater clams, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Anomiidae, the jingle shells. ''Enigmonia aenigmatica'', the mangrove jingle shell clam, is the only species in this monotypic genus. It is found living on mangro ...

'', which lives on mangroves ** Intertidal chitons, such as ''

Acanthopleura granulata ''Acanthopleura granulata'', common name the West Indian fuzzy chiton (also known as Curbs or Sea Cradles), is a medium-sized tropical species of chiton. This type of chiton's activity does not depend on spring-neap oscillations leading to lower l ...

'' ** Semiterrestrial gastropods, such as the intertidal ''

Patella vulgata ''Patella vulgata'', common name the common limpet or common European limpet is a species of sea snail. It is a typical true limpet; a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Patellidae, with gills.Gofas, S. (2014). Patella vulgata Linnaeus, 1758 ...

'', a limpet; also amphibious freshwater and marine snails, such as ''

Pomatiopsis ''Pomatiopsis'' is a genus of amphibious snails with gills and an operculum, aquatic freshwater gastropod mollusks in the family Pomatiopsidae. ''Pomatiopsis'' is the type genus of the family Pomatiopsidae. Distribution The distribution of th ...

'' or '' Cerithideopsis scalariformis'', respectively * Semiterrestrial flatworms of the intertidal zone, such as the acotylean '' Myoramyxa pardalota'' 2007 nymphaea lotus

Semiaquatic plants

Semi aquatic

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

s include: * Semiaquatic angiosperms (e.g.,

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

water spinach ''Ipomoea aquatica'', widely known as water spinach, is a semi- aquatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable for its tender shoots. ''I. aquatica'' is generally believed to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia. It is widely cultivate ...

, water cabbage, and the entire order

Nymphaeales The Nymphaeales are an order of flowering plants, consisting of three families of aquatic plants, the Hydatellaceae, the Cabombaceae, and the Nymphaeaceae (water lilies). It is one of the three orders of basal angiosperms, an early-diverging ...

) * Semiaquatic conifers, such as pond cypress * Semi

aquatic fern The order Salviniales (formerly known as the Hydropteridales and including the former Marsileales) is an order of ferns in the class Polypodiopsida. Description Salviniales are all aquatic and differ from all other ferns in being heterosporous, ...

s, such as ''

Pilularia americana ''Pilularia americana'', the American pillwort, is an unusual species of fern. The fronds essentially consist of the petioles only, any form of flattened laminae having been lost. It is in the aquatic fern family Marsileaceae, and is related t ...

'' * A semiaquatic

horsetail ''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds. ''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass ...

, '' Equisetum fluviatile'' * Semiaquatic

quillwort ''Isoetes'', commonly known as the quillworts, is the only extant genus of plants in the family Isoetaceae, which is in the class of lycopods. There are currently 192 recognized species, with a cosmopolitan distribution but with the individual s ...

s, such as '' Isoetes melanospora'' * Semiaquatic

club moss Lycopodiopsida is a class of vascular plants known as lycopods, lycophytes or other terms including the component lyco-. Members of the class are also called clubmosses, firmosses, spikemosses and quillworts. They have dichotomously branching s ...

es, such as ''

Lycopodiella inundata ''Lycopodiella inundata'' is a species of club moss known by the common names inundated club moss, marsh clubmoss and northern bog club moss. It has a circumpolar and circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout the northern Northern Hemisph ...

'' * Semiaquatic mosses, such as '' Sphagnum macrophyllum'' * Semiaquatic

liverwort The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of ...

s, such as ''

Riccia fluitans ''Riccia fluitans'', the floating crystalwort, is an aquatic floating plant of the liverwort genus ''Riccia'' which is popular among aquarists as a retreat for young fry and is used in live-bearing tanks. It can be found floating in ponds, and o ...

Notes

References

{{Reflist Broad-concept articles Aquatic ecology