Bladderwort: another underwater plant
Click here or on the picture below to find out more.
This picture is 9 times bigger than life size.
How does the plant get its food?
A Bladderwort is a green, carnivorous plant with empty vacuum-like sacs called bladders. Their sacs (or traps) are the smallest of all green carnivorous plants. The traps range from one hundredth of an inch to one fifth of an inch. They also grow small, beautiful flowers on their leafless stems.
The bladder strains to spring open, but cannot. A trapdoor is held closed by a thin film of a glue-like substance that blocks the entrance. When an insect hits the tiny hairs outside the bladder, it is sucked inside the bladder. The glands release enzymes and acids that dissolve all the soft parts of the insect.
They trap and eat water fleas, worms, and small larvae of insects. The larger ones can catch tiny fish!
Bladderworts live in swamp-like or very moist habitats in nearly every country of the world. Some live on land, and some actually live in the water. They prefer areas that lack enough of the minerals plants need. Here, they get their nutrients from the food they catch and become stronger than the plants around them.