Texas Coastal Ecological Services Field Office

White bladderpod (Physaria (=Lesquerella) pallida) is an edaphic (soil) specialist, only known from San Augustine County, Texas.  As a member of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), this plant is only found on alkaline soils atop glauconite outcrops of the Weches...

Texas trailing phlox is a herbaceous perennial and member of the family Polemoniaceae.  Seven extant populations occur in Texas on private, public, and state-owned lands within Hardin, Tyler, and Polk counties.  Extant populations, both natural and ex-situ populations (two...

The Neches River rose-mallow (Hibiscus dasycalyx) is a wetland associated and nonwoody perennial in the Malvaceae (mallow) family.  The species can grow to about 2-8 feet (ft) tall and produce hundreds of flowers per plant.  Potential pollinating species may include,...

Size: 18 cm (7.25 in) in length. Color: Breeding season: Pale brown above, lighter below; black band across forehead; bill orange with black tip; legs orange; white rump. Male: Complete or incomplete black band encircles the body at the breast. Female: Paler head band; incomplete breast band....

Length: 25-28 cm. Adults in spring: Above finely mottled with grays, black and light ochre, running into stripes on crown; throat, breast and sides of head cinnamon-brown; dark gray line through eye; abdomen and undertail coverts white; uppertail coverts white, barred with black. Adults in...

Just over 100 years ago, the sounds of male Attwater’s Prairie-Chickens could be heard throughout the gulf coast prairies of Texas and Louisiana, when they numbered up to about 1 million birds.  However, through the 1900s, the Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken’s numbers dwindled to the edge of...

The green sea turtle grows to a maximum size of about 4 feet and a weight of 440 pounds. It has a heart-shaped shell, small head, and single-clawed flippers. Color is variable. Hatchlings generally have a black carapace, white plastron, and white margins on the shell and limbs. The adult...

The endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle is one of seven species of sea turtles found throughout the world. One of the smaller sea turtles, it has overlapping scutes (plates) that are thicker than those of other sea turtles. This protects them from being battered against sharp coral and rocks during...

The Kemp's ridley turtle is the smallest of the sea turtles, with adults reaching about 2 feet in length and weighing up to 100 pounds. The adult Kemp's ridley has an oval carapace that is almost as wide as it is long and is usually olive-gray in color. The carapace has five pairs of costal...

The leatherback is the largest, deepest diving, and most migratory and wide ranging of all sea turtles. The adult leatherback can reach 4 to 8 feet in length and 500 to 2000 pounds in weight. Its shell is composed of a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin with seven longitudinal...

Loggerheads were named for their relatively large heads, which support powerful jaws and enable them to feed on hard-shelled prey, such as whelks and conch. The carapace (top shell) is slightly heart-shaped and reddish-brown in adults and sub-adults, while the plastron (bottom shell) is...

Ground colours of the short fur of the ocelot, varies from creamy, or tawny yellow, to reddish grey and grey. The underside of the body, tail, and insides of the limbs is whitish. Rather more blotched than spotted, the chain-like spots are bordered with black. Ocelots have both solid and open...

The whooping crane occurs only in North America and is North America’s tallest bird, with males approaching 1.5 m (5 ft) when standing erect. The whooping crane adult plumage is snowy white except for black primaries, black or grayish alula (specialized feathers attached to the upper leading end...

The Houston toad was first described by Sanders (1953) based on specimens collected from the area of Houston, Texas. The species is a small to medium-sized (5 to 8 centimeters [2 to 3 inches] long) amphibian covered with raised patches of skin that resemble warts. The Houston toad is generally...

Texas golden gladecress (Leavenworthia texana) is an annual plant and member of the Brassicaceae family (mustard).  The genus Leavenworthia includes only eight species in total, all of which occur in glade or prairie/savanna communities.  The Texas golden gladecress...

The large-fruited sand-verbena (Abronia macrocarpa) is an endemic plant found in Leon, Robertson, and Freestone counties, in the post oak savanna region of eastern Texas.  The nine documented wild populations are known only from private lands and occur no more than 80...

Plants annual stems erect, 3.5-18 cm (1.4-7.1 in.) high with several divergent branches arising from a rosette of basal fleshy leaves. Basal leaves 1-16 mm (0.04-0.59 in.) wide, up to 4 cm (1.6 in.) long, widest toward the tip, margins with short teeth or lobes from mid—blade to tip. Upper stem...

Walker's manioc, a member of the spurge family (Euphorbiacea), is a spindly, almost vine-like perennial herb.

22 cm. Rather small black-and-white woodpecker with longish bill. Above black barred white. Below white with black spots on flanks. Black crown, nape and moustachial stripe border white cheeks and side of neck. Male has small red mark on the side of nape. Juvenile browner with variable extent of...

Louisiana pinesnakes are egg-laying, non-venomous constrictors with small heads and pointed snouts, and are good burrowers. Reaching up to about five feet long, Louisiana pinesnakes are black, brown and russet. They have a buff to yellowish background color marked with 28 to 38 dark blotches...

Adult monarch butterflies are large and conspicuous, with bright orange wings surrounded by a black border and covered with black veins. The black border has a double row of white spots, present on the upper side of the wings. Adult monarchs are sexually dimorphic, with males having narrower...