Flooded Forests
The floodplains of all of the major Amazonian rivers are seasonally inundated, creating the most extensively developed area of flooded forest to be found anywhere in the world. The rainforests that occur on these floodplains are specially adapted to withstand periodic floods. Even areas that are flooded ten months of the year can support well-developed forests. Plants' adaptations to flooded conditions include respiratory roots that grow above the flood level and seeds that float for effective dispersal.
With such extensive flooded forests, there are more fruit and seed-eating fish in Amazonia than anywhere else in the world. Many catfishes eat fleshy fruits. Some other fish have massive jaws and cusped teeth for crushing seeds. Others, like piranhas, have razor-sharp teeth with which they can shell the nuts that they eat and ingest only the soft seed contents. Fish can be important seed dispersers. Many species (especially catfish) swallow fruits whole. digest the fleshy pulp, and defecate intact seeds.
