What types of animals plants and microorganisms are native to the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed?

Larger creatures that thrive in the Bay include bottlenose dolphins, which are plentiful in deeper waters but can also be found near harbors. Water mammals share the watershed with their on-land neighbors such as river otters, the white-tailed and sika deer, bobcats, marsh rabbits, muskrat, and red fox.

1. What animals are native to the Chesapeake Bay watershed?
2. How many species live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed?
3. Are sharks in Chesapeake Bay?
4. What are decomposers in the Chesapeake Bay?
5. Is Chesapeake Bay a wetland?
6. What is the ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay?
7. Are there whales in the Chesapeake Bay?
8. What type of water is the Chesapeake Bay?
9. What type of habitat is found at and around the Chesapeake Bay?
10. Are there dolphins in Chesapeake Bay?

What animals are native to the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

In addition to supporting many waterfowl species, these coastal marshes are important nursery and spawning grounds for multiple fish species, including Atlantic menhaden, bluefish, flounder, spot, mullet, croaker, and rockfish.

How many species live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

The mixing of freshwater with saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean in the Chesapeake Bay creates the nation's largest estuary, home to more than 3,700 species of plants and animals.

Are sharks in Chesapeake Bay?

Overall, sharks aren't a major safety concern in the Chesapeake Bay. The lower Bay's role as a nursery area for sandbar sharks makes it the most abundant large shark population on the Atlantic coast. But populations of other shark species are limited in this area, so unprovoked attacks are incredibly rare.

What are decomposers in the Chesapeake Bay?

Bacteria play an important role in the Bay. They are the decomposers, breaking down dead plants and other matter. Through this process, nutrients in dead plant and animal matter once again become available for growing plants. Zooplankton and other filter-feeding animals eat bacteria.

Is Chesapeake Bay a wetland?

What Are Wetlands? The Chesapeake Bay receives half of its water from the Atlantic Ocean and the other half from an intricate network of hundreds of thousands of miles of creeks, streams, and rivers and 1.5 million acres of wetlands.

What is the ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay?

The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary (leaving MDE) and is the largest ecosystem of its kind in the United States. Estuaries are partially enclosed coastal bodies of water that occur where freshwater from streams and rivers mixes with saltwater from the ocean.

Are there whales in the Chesapeake Bay?

The humpback whale is a school bus-sized mammal that occasionally visits the Chesapeake Bay. It is known for its knobbed head and acrobatic breaching displays.

What type of water is the Chesapeake Bay?

Brackish water, a combination of saltwater and freshwater, fills most of the Bay. The mingling of the freshwater with ocean water creates an estuary. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America, and one of the largest in the world.

What type of habitat is found at and around the Chesapeake Bay?

Tidal wetlands, found along the Bay's shores, are filled with salt or brackish water when the tide rises. Non-tidal wetlands contain fresh water. Just like forests, wetlands act as important buffers, absorbing and slowing the flow of polluted runoff to the Bay and its tributaries.

Are there dolphins in Chesapeake Bay?

Hundreds of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are spending their summers in Chesapeake Bay waters. ... The bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that travel to the Chesapeake are a migratory species that spend the rest of the year at other locations along the Atlantic Coast.