While fish watching may not be the exciting sport that bird watching is, you are the loser if you ignore this part of the life of Everglades. Fish are so abundant in the park that no one has to haul them in on a line to discover them. You can hardly miss spotting the larger fresh-water forms if you take the trouble to look down into the sloughs, ponds, and alligator holes. Identifying the species of fish, however, is more difficult. The voracious-looking Florida spotted gar is an exception. This important predator on smaller fishes, which is in turn a major item in the diet of the alligator, is quite easily recognized. Experienced anglers will spot the largemouthed bass and the bluegill sunfish. You’ll see these and others as you walk on the Anhinga Trail boardwalk. As you watch alligators and other native Everglades predators, you may get an inkling of how important in the web of life are the prolific fish populations of the sloughs, marshes, swamps, and offshore waters of the park. Animals without Backbones Insects are the most noticeable of the park’s invertebrates. (At times you may find your can of repellent as important as your shoes!) In all the fresh-water and brackish environments, insects and their larvae are important links in the food chains—at the beginning as primary consumers of algae and other plant material, and farther along as predators, mostly on other insects. Some insects are parasites on the park’s warmblooded animals (including you). The invertebrates most sought by visitors are molluscs—or rather, their shells. You may find a few on the beach at Cape Sable, but don’t expect to find the park a productive shelling area. Stick to marine shells—_dead_ ones. You cannot collect the fresh-water molluscs. Also protected are the tree snails of jungle hammocks. Famed for their beauty, these snails of the genus _Liguus_, which grow to as much as 2½ inches in diameter, feed upon the lichens growing on certain hammock trees. Look for them—but leave them undisturbed, for they are a part of the community, protected just as are the park’s royal palms and its alligators. [Illustration: INDIANS IN SOUTH FLORIDA] BIG CYPRESS INDIAN RESERVATION FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLE INDIAN RESERVATION DANIA INDIAN RESERVATION SCATTERED MOUNDS THROUGHOUT SHARK VALLEY RUSSELL KEY TURNER RIVER LOPEZ RIVER HOUSTON RIVER MORMON KEY GOPHER KEY JOHNSON MOUND FARM CREEK MOUND EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK MONROE LAKE EAST CAPE MOUNDS _GULF OF MEXICO_ _FLORIDA BAY_ _ATLANTIC OCEAN_ Indian Mounds Indian Villages Big Cypress Swamp Mangrove Swamp Pine Rockland Coastal Prairie Everglades INDIANS OF THE EVERGLADES