Mangroves deal with toxic levels of salt by

• stopping it getting in

• storing it in old leaves which drop off

• excreting it through special pores in their leaves

Picture, salt crystals excreted from a leaf of black mangrove

Plant roots need to breathe oxygen, but the tide rises over the mud every day.

• Red mangroves have aerial roots that are never fully covered.

• Black mangroves have SNORKELS - you can see them in the picture - neumatophores which can poke out above the water and take oxygen down to the root tissues underwater

Currents, waves and storms can easily wash away the soil they live on.

• Mangrove roots make a cage that traps and stabilises the soil and extends the land.

• The aerial roots of these red mangroves are collecting sediment making new soil as well as helping the plant breathe when the tide comes in

Normal seeds could get washed away by the waves and currents before they had a chance to take root.

• Mangrove seeds germinate while they are still on the parent tree.

• This makes them the only plant to "give birth" to baby trees