North Carolina’s Salt Marshes

Adapted for North Carolina by Amy Sauls original By Becci Curry

Where are they?• North Carolina has over 2

million acres of estuary along the coast, which includes salt marsh, sound, and beaches.

• NC Coast has a rich diversity due to the influence of both the warm Gulf Stream and the cold Labrador current that cross offshore off Cape Hatteras.

North Carolina Salt Marsh

What lives in a marsh?

• Look closely and you will soon discover that the marsh is alive with many interesting creatures…

• This female fiddler crab is ready to run into her burrow to hide from predators!

• Many animals depend on detritus for food such as fiddler crabs…

• This is a male fiddler. Check out his large claw; used for defending himself, and waving at the ladies!

Blue Crab

• The blue crab is one of the top predators in the marsh. It eats snails, fishes, and small crabs.

• Mud snails think that detritus is yummy!

• What’s detritus???

• Detritus is dead and decaying plant and animal matter.

• Periwinkle snails live their lives sliding up and down marsh grass. As the tides come and go, they lick the algae that collects there …whew!

• Flounder are prized fish for the dinner table, but these flat fish are predators that like to feed on shrimp, small fish and other organisms along the bottom of the sound.

• Notice that both eyes are on one side. While the top side of the fish is very dark, the bottom side is white!

North Carolina’s state fish is the………….

Great Blue HeronRed Drum!

• Please be sure to check North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries for the latest recreational rules and regulations when you fish in coastal areas. There are size limits as well as number of fish per person per day limits. You must also have a fishing license.

• Why are there limits?

Ribbed Mussels

• Ribbed mussels have byssal threads that act like roots or holdfasts to keep them from washing out to sea. They are filter feeders.

Oysters• Oysters are very important in

North Carolina. They live in the intertidal zone (between low and high tides) or subtidal zone (below the low tide) and are filter feeders. Because of their great capacity for filtering the water for microscopic food such as plankton, they clean the water at the same time!

Diamondback Terrapin

• These unique turtles are found in the salt-marsh estuaries, tidal flats, and lagoons.

• Their scutes bear deep growth rings. They are often grey bodied. These turtles like to feed on marine snails, clams, and worms

• Development of coastal marshes has destroyed much of their habitat.

The plants in the marsh have many special adaptations.

Marsh elder

Salt Marsh Cord Grass Spartina

Black Needle Rush Juncus

Marsh Elder

Iva Glasswort aka pickleweed

Salicornia

• There are many resident birds that nest in the marsh, as well as many migratory species.

Great American Egret

Little Blue Heron

• The marshes serve as a nursery ground for juvenile fish and shellfish, that have sport as well as commercial value. About 90% of the seafood that is harvested commercially spend a portion of their lives in the marsh system.

• The marshes act as a buffer, which protect the upland areas, from the forces of storms and tides.

• The marshes and estuaries also serve as a tertiary treatment facility.

• The marsh grass and sediments act as a sink and pump, adding large amounts of nutrients to the sea.

• The scenic beauty of the marsh attracts many visitors.

• Many people enjoy boating, canoeing, birding, or just wading around in this diverse habitat.

Our Estuary

• Located between the mainland & barrier islands

• Where fresh & salty water mix, the water is usually referred to as brackish

• Habitats include: salt marsh, mud flats, sand flats, sounds, and tidal creeks

• Rain water brings dissolved minerals, chemicals, materials from land

• Mixes with nutrients in the salt water to create biologically productive system

The Fouling Community

• The plants and animals that live on or near the docks & pilings

• Free floating (plankton)• Sessile (barnacles,

tunicates and sponges)• Mobile (invertebrates)

Plankton: Free Floaters

• Zooplankton: animal *copepods (oar-foot)

• Phytoplankton: plant *diatoms: y/g algae,

dinoflagellates• Meroplankton: temp.

crab, barnacle larvae

• The next time you get a chance, go “marsh

mucking”. You never know what you’ll

see...