Plants & Animals of the Estuary
|
- Item #: 469
Plants and Animals of the Estuary focuses on the common organisms of shallow estuaries, such as the mouths of the Mystic and Niantic rivers on Long Island Sound. Connecticut's estuaries are recognized as being one of the most productive biological systems in the world. Here at the salt-freshwater interface, we find an abundance of nutrients trapped and a rich flora and fauna responding to a diversity of environmental gradients. We also find the contiguous tidal marshes being bathed diurnally by these shallow estuarine waters. In fact, together the estuary and tidal marsh comprise a highly integrated ecological unit - the tidal marsh-estuarine ecosystem. The typical animals of this ecosystem - invertebrates, fishes and seaweeds - are described and illustrated.
