Florida Bay facts for kids
Florida Bay is a large, shallow body of water located in Florida. It sits between the southern part of the Florida mainland, which is home to the Florida Everglades, and a long chain of small islands called the Florida Keys. This bay is super important because of its amazing ecology, especially its huge sea grass beds and all the cool creatures that live there.
Most of Florida Bay is part of Everglades National Park, which helps protect its unique environment. The southern edge of the bay, near the Florida Keys, is part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Just outside the bay and the Keys is the Florida Reef, which is the only barrier coral reef in North America.
Contents
Amazing Ecosystem
Plants and Animals
Florida Bay is home to the biggest known sea grass bed in the entire world! These sea grass beds are like underwater meadows, full of many different species of plants and animals.
Sea grass is a very important part of the food chain here. Many animals, including some rare ones, eat sea grass. Animals that munch on sea grass include green turtles, dugongs, manatees, fish, geese, sea urchins, and crabs. The shallow areas of the bay also have huge mangrove forests, which are special trees that grow in salty water.
How Limestone Forms
Florida Bay is a great example of how limestone rocks have formed on many continental shelves around the world. It's like a natural 'factory' that produces carbonate materials.
In Florida Bay, there's a lot of a type of flowering plant called sea grass. The water is also often milky white because it's full of calcium carbonate. This calcium carbonate mostly comes from Melobesia, a tiny red alga that lives on the sea grass. These tiny organisms also create a lot of slime, which is a type of polysaccharide. Scientists believe this slime helps the algae control how their carbonate skeletons are formed. A cool side effect is that the slime also stops too much carbonate from dissolving in the water, so most of it settles down to the bottom of the bay.
Florida Bay is a flat area where a huge amount of carbonate rock has been laid down over time. Scientists have drilled down more than 3,000 feet before reaching a different type of rock, which shows how much carbonate has built up here over millions of years!
Waterspouts
Waterspouts are a common sight in Florida Bay. A waterspout is like a tornado that forms over water. There can be as many as 500 waterspouts in the area each year! They are most common from June to October, but you might see them at other times too.
Images for kids
-
Southern third of Florida, showing Florida Bay in pale green off the southern tip of the mainland
-
Rafts of dead seagrass in Florida Bay. 2015.
See also
In Spanish: Bahía de Florida para niños
