DESCRIPTION 



The crocodile is a large, lizard-shaped reptile. 

 Its back is covered with regular series of keeled, 

 bony scales and the belly with smooth white 

 scales. It is dorsally greenish or gray-brown with 

 irregular black mottling. Young are more con- 

 trastingly colored than adults. Hatchlings are 

 about 23 cm in length; adults may grow to 4.5 m 

 or larger. 



The characteristics that distinguished the 

 crocodile from the alligator are the crocodile's 

 generally more slender build and its snout, which 

 tapers noticeably forward of the eyes, while the 

 alligator's snout is untapered and rounded at the 

 end. The fourth tooth in the crocodile's lower jaw 

 is exposed when the mouth is closed; this tooth is 

 concealed in the alligator. Coloration of the alliga- 

 tor is dark gray or black with yellow markings. 



Illustrations of the crocodile appear in 

 Ditmars (1953), Carr and Coin (1955), Pope 

 (1955), Bothwell (1963), Neill (1971), Conant 

 (1975), Lang (1975), and Perrero (1975), among 

 other technical, semitechnical. and popular works. 



RANGE 



In the United States, the American crocodile 

 is known to breed currently only in southern 

 parts of the Everglades National Park, chiefly Flo- 

 rida Bay, and outside the park on adjacent Key 

 Largo and Turkey Point. Another population is 

 reported in the Lower Florida Keys on Big Pine, 

 Little Pine, and Howe Keys, with breeding 

 rumored on Little Pine Key (Powell 1973, Ogden 

 1979). 



Individuals are still occasionally reported north 

 of Key Largo into Biscayne Bay on the east coast 

 of Florida, and as far north as Marco Island and 

 Charlotte Harbor on the west coast. Breeding in 

 these areas has not been documented. 



Historically, the crocodile ranged north at 

 least to Lake Worth, Palm Beach County, on the 

 east coast (Dimock and Dimock 1908). Breeding 

 is suspected but undocumented for these northern 

 populations. On the west coast of Florida, no his- 

 toric records exist for sightings outside the areas 

 that still occasionally report crocodiles, although 

 a record does exist for Mobile Bay, Alabama 

 (Loding 1922). 



The largest segment of the known population 

 in Florida is found in the Everglades National 

 Park. The lower Keys population, if a viable 

 breeding unit, lives primarily in the National Key 

 Deer Refuge. Crocodiles occasionally use the 

 cooling canals of the Florida Power and Light 



Corporation's Turkey Point power plant. Individ- 

 uals are also occasionally seen in Homestead Bay- 

 front Park. 



RANGE MAP 



Shading indicates the known range in Florida. 



STATES/COUNTIES 



Florida Collier ( ?) , Dade , Monroe. 



HABITAT 



Primarily coastal, crocodiles use mangrove 

 swamps, salt and brackish bays, and brackish 

 creeks. They also enter coastal canals and borrow 

 pits. Nesting occurs primarily in hardwood thick- 

 ets at the heads of small sand beaches and on marl 

 banks along narrow coastal creeks (Ogden 1979). 



Present data indicate that hatchlings cannot 

 tolerate seawater salinities, but must have brackish 

 or freshwater for the early development period 

 (Neill 1971, T. Ellis and W. E. Evans personal 

 communication), but this has been questioned 

 (Lang 1975). Adults are able to withstand full 

 seawater salinity and may wander widely in 

 coastal areas (Neill 1971). 



Critical habitat for the American crocodile in 

 Florida has been designated (41 FR 41915, 24 

 September 1976). All land and water (excluding 

 man-made structures or settlements not necessary 

 to the normal needs or survival of the species) 

 within the followdng boundaries are included: be- 

 ginning at the easternmost tip of Turkey Point, 

 Dade County, on the coast of Biscayne Bay; 

 thence southeastward along a straight line to 

 Christmas Point at the southernmost tip of Elliott 

 Key; thence southwestward along a line following 

 the shores of the Atlantic Ocean side of Old 

 Rhodes Key, Palo Alto Key, Angelfish Key, Key 

 Largo, Plantation Key, Windley Key, Upper Mate- 

 cumbe Key, Lower Matecumbe Key, and Long 

 Key, to the westernmost tip of Long Key; thence 

 northwestward along a straight line to the western- 

 most tip of Middle Cape; thence northward along 

 the shore of the Gulf of Mexico to the north of 

 the mouth of Little Sable Creek; thence eastward 

 along a straight line to the northernmost point of 

 Nine Mile Pond; thence northeastward along a 

 straight line to the point of beginning. 



FOOD AND FORAGING BEHAVIOR 



No detailed information on foraging behavior 

 is known, but the food of adults is believed to 

 consist primarily of fish (Fernandez 1971, Ogden 



