What Animals and Plants Live in the Chesapeake Bay

This photograph shows a heron. Herons like the Great Bluish Heron stand about four feet tall and take a fly bridge of more than than 6 anxiety! Herons like to hunt in the shallow coves of Chesapeake Bay, specially in all of the tributaries that empty out into the Bay. The Bay provides pocket-sized fish, salamanders, frogs, snakes, lizards, shellfish, rodents and many insects for the herons to feast upon.
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Courtesy of USGS (The states Geological Survey

Life in Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay and its watershed support more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and animals. 2,700 species of plants lone live in the Chesapeake Bay surface area. These plants serve as the base for the foodchain in this system. Without these plants, the fish, birds and other animals couldn't exist.

Some of the most important plants in Chesapeake Bay live completely underwater. They are known as SAV or submerged aquatic vegetation. These underwater grasses provide food for fish, birds and shellfish. They also provide a place for fish and other creatures to lay their eggs and hide their young. During photosynthesis, SAV'southward release oxygen to the water which is necessary for other creatures. Homo actions like agriculture, construction, destruction of forests for new malls and parking lots, and pollution threaten healthy growth of SAV. Since the residue of the life in Chesapeake Bay depends on SAV growth, it seems logical that humans need to wait closely at things they do that upset the balance for the rest of life in Chesapeake Bay.

The Bay is home to many fish, from the Bay anchovy to the sandbar shark. It supports bluish crabs, horshoe crabs and American oysters. In fact, humans go over 500 million pounds of seafood from the Bay each year! Sea turtles, eels, dolphins, rays, seahorses, and jellyfish also fill the Bay waters.

And hundreds of thousands of birds call Chesapeake Bay their dwelling. Some stay all twelvemonth round, others merely winter there. Beautiful species similar bald eagles, snowy egrets, great blue herons, geese, swans, ducks and gulls all alive in this identify.