Estuaries are bays where rivers empty into the sea, mixing fresh water with salt water creating what is known as brackish water. Usually calm, warm, and nutrient diverse, estuaries are biologically diverse and productive parts of the marine salt water biome.
Estuaries experience high fluctuations in temperature and precipitation throughout the year depending on season.
Estuaries experience high fluctuations in temperature and precipitation throughout the year depending on season.
Green Heron
- Butorides
- Butorides striata
- Adults have a glossy, greenish-black cap, a greenish back and wings that are grey-black grading into green or blue, a chestnut neck with a white line down the front, grey underparts and short yellow legs.
Soft-shell Clams
- Mya
- Mya arenaria
- These clams have a calcium carbonate shell, which is very thin and easily broken, hence the name "soft-shells"
Red Drum
- Sciaenops
- Sciaenops ocellatus
- Red drum are a dark red color on the back, which fades into white on the belly. The red drum have a characteristic eyespot near the tail
Eelgrass
- Zostera
- Zostera marina
- It is an aquatic plant native to marine environments on the coastlines of mostly northern sections of North America
Water Chestnut
- Eleocharis
- Eleocharis dulcis
- The water chestnut is actually not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes, underwater in the mud
Cattail
- Typha
- Typha latifolia
- "obligate wetland" species, meaning that it is always found in or near water
information and pictures from http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/nep/about.cfm, http://en.wikipedia.org, and http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/habitats/estuaries.htm