Species that use the river itself, including three species of salamanders, at least four species of turtles, and the alligator, depend on the floodplain forest for egg laying and incubation. Upland and swamp species dominate the bird fauna. Aquatic species such as anhingas, wood ducks, herons, and limpkins utilize the river s edge. The mammals of the flood plain include abundant herbivores, from mice and rabbits to white-tailed deer. There are also many carnivores such as otters, bobcats and grey foxes that depend on relatively large areas of undisturbed habitat for survival.
Black bears are still present but are under increasing pressure from the loss of suitable habitat.
Panthers recently roamed the forest and might do so once again if enough habitat is available for their re-introduction. The Ocklawaha River sustains approximately 110 species of fish, considerably more than similar rivers in the Southeast. This great array of species can be attributed to the antiquity of the stream and to the wide variety of bottom sediment types, aquatic plants, and invertebrates. Some of the species of fish are rare and some exist as disjunct colonies, isolated by hundreds of miles from the nearest population of the species. The Ocklawaha has long been famous for its lunker largemouth bass and other species of Centrarchids, such as redbellies, crappie, shell crackers, and warmouth.