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Estuaries : San Francisco Bay

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As you may know, a estuary, particularly is a enclosed body of water aside the coast where freshwater from rivers and streams intertwine with the salt water from the ocean. As a matter of fact, estuaries are "places of transition from land to sea and freshwater to salt water." An estuary is a partially enclosed body of water formed where freshwater from rivers and streams flows into the ocean, mixing with the salty sea water. Estuaries and the lands surrounding them are places of transition from land to sea, and from fresh to salt water. Influenced by the tides, estuaries are protected and kept safe from the "full force of ocean waves, winds, and storms by the reefs, barrier islands, or fingers of land, mud, or sand that define an estuary …show more content…

In areas where the mouth of fresh water rivers run into the estuary, the salinity can be as low as .5 ppt (parts per thousand), and in this region freshwater organisms can live. Near the mouth of the bay, the salinity level can be as high as 36 ppt, which is as salty as the ocean. Since this estuary is located in a temperate zone, the average daily temperature of the water changes with the seasons. More than 350 species of fish live in the Chesapeake bay, this bay provides rich fishing opportunities for fisherman. This Bay supports more than 3,600 species of plant and animal life altogether. Now picture, how much this number drastically increases if you include the enitre worlds plant and animal life.

Furthermore, estuaries are generally influenced by the tides, yet still remain protected from the powerful ocean waves, winds, and storms that the land forms as barrier islands or peninsulas. In fact, one of the most productive on earth are estuarian environments that create more organic matter each year than comparable areas of forest, grassland, or agricultural land. The tidal waters of estuaries also support unique communities of plants and animals especially adapted for life at the margin of the sea. A numerous of different habitat spieces are found living in estuaries, including rocky shores, sandy beachs, oyster reefs, shallow open waters, freshwater and salt marshes, swamps, mud and sand flats, seagrasses, tidal pools, mangrove forests, and even river deltas.

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