In the water
In the water
The water of the Sečovlje Salina is never just one kind of water. In some places it is almost marine, elsewhere it is brackish, while in marginal ditches, wetlands and along the Dragonja River it may become much fresher. This meeting of salt, brackish and freshwater creates an exceptional habitat for animals able to cope with rapid changes in salinity, temperature, water level and oxygen.
In the most saline basins live tiny brine shrimps, including the parthenogenetic brine shrimp (Artemia parthenogenetica). They are small, but they play a major role in the salina ecosystem. They feed on microscopic algae and are themselves an important food source for many waterbirds. When the water dries out and conditions become harsh, their resistant eggs can survive in the dry mud, waiting for the water to return. In the salina, life often means knowing how to wait.
The canals, salt pools and shallow waters are also home to the Mediterranean shore crab or Mediterranean green crab (Carcinus aestuarii), the Mediterranean mud shrimp (Upogebia pusilla), molluscs, polychaete worms, insect larvae and many other small invertebrates. Most visitors never notice them, yet without them an essential part of the food web would be missing. They turn what may look like still mud into a living, productive habitat.
Among the fish specially adapted to these conditions are the Mediterranean killifish or Mediterranean banded killifish (Aphanius fasciatus) and the Caucasian dwarf goby (Knipowitschia caucasica). In larger canals connected with the sea, European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) and other marine fish may also occur. Their presence reminds us that the salina is not cut off from the sea, but still breathes with it through channels, tides and water management.
A special place belongs to the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis), Slovenia’s only native freshwater turtle. In the Sečovlje Salina it is found mainly along the Dragonja River, in the Stojbe area and in the freshwater wetlands near Rudnik. Although we usually think of it as an aquatic animal, it also needs land: quiet banks, sunny places for basking, muddy bottoms for hiding and suitable dry sites where females can lay their eggs.
The water and its edges are also home to the dice snake (Natrix tessellata), a non-venomous water snake harmless to humans. It moves skilfully through ditches, canals and brackish waters, feeding mainly on fish and amphibians. At the margins of the salina, especially in spring, the common toad (Bufo bufo) may also appear. It spends much of the year on land, but returns to water to breed.
When we look at the water of the salina, we are therefore not looking at an empty surface. Beneath the surface, in the mud, among algae and along the edges of channels, a dense web of life is unfolding. Every shrimp, fish, crab and turtle is part of a larger story: water feeds the birds, mud shelters small animals, the sun warms the shallows, and human care for the water regime helps preserve this delicate world.