Building Specific Galleries - Florida Bays And Beaches Gallery
Florida Bays Exhibit
- Estuary – shallow coastal area where fresh water and salt water mix.
- Brackish-water communities – mangroves, sea grass beds, oyster bars, mud and sand bottoms.
- Florida’s shoreline spans over 8,500 miles - the longest of the lower 48 states.
- There are more than 3 million acres of estuaries and tidal mashes along Florida’s Gulf coast.
- More than 70% of sport and commercial fish and shellfish species spend part of their lives in estuaries.
- More than 100 sport fish species are found in a variety of shoreline habitats.
- Mangroves filter pollutants, protect shores from storms, and shelter and nourish animals.
- Florida’s bays are inshore nurseries.
- Common species that can be found in Florida Bays:
- Striped mullet
- Snook
- Ladyfish
- Spot
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- Pinfish
- Bonnethead shark
- Southern stingray
- Gulf flounder
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Bay Communitiesand Food Webs
- Camouflage and countershading are common traits for species in these areas.
- Fish school for protection, food, reproductive success and swimming efficiency.
- Fishing rules and regulations are common in these areas.
- Common species that can be found in Bay communities:
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- Bighead searobin
- Hogchoker
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- Special adaptations for bottom living include eyes on top of head, mouth under snout, flat shape and barbells.
- Atlantic guitarfish
- Plumed scorpionfish
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- Yellow stingray
- Slate pencil urchin
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Special adaptations for open-water living include smooth streamlined shape, forked tail, multiple finds, large eyes and mouth at end of snout.
- Bay anchovy
- Pinfish
- Gafftopsail catfish
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Florida Sea Grass Beds Exhibit
- Seagrass – flowering plants that live in shallow seawater.
- Serve as nurseries for commercially important fish and shellfish species, and even some reef species.
- Eaten by endangered manatees and green sea turtles.
- Over 3,300 square miles grow off Florida, including 22 square miles in Tampa Bay.
- Seagrass captures silt and provide feeding grounds for fish and other species.
- Mangroves and seagrasses trap nutrients and decaying material (detritus) that fertilize other plants and provide food for scavengers.
- Seagrasses are great places to hide!
- Common species found in Sea Grass Beds
- Pinfish
- Hogfish
- Spotted trunkfish
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- Scrawled cowfish
- Bridled burrfish
- Flying gurnard
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- Seagrass is a great substrate for epiphytes (plants that live on other plants).
- Algae epiphytes are an important food source for grazers
- Gulf pipefish
- Slate-pencil urchin
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Florida Bay Bottoms Exhibit:
- Oyster beds cover murky shallow area where currents deliver nutrients.
- Eastern oyster
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- Rocksnail
- Flatback mud crab
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- Sea grass communities grow in shallow areas where light can penetrate for photosynthesis.
- Long-spined urchin
- Spotted seahare
- Lined seahorse
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- Bay scallop
- Sargassum pipefish
- Florida grass shrimp
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- Limestone is found in areas where currents sweep away sand. Space is limited.
- Purple sea urchin
- Loggerhead sponge
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- Caribbean reef octopus
- Florida blenny
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Florida Bay Bottoms Exhibit:
- Sand is found in calm water where it can build up.
- Animals burrow into the bottom.
- Common species found on Bay bottoms:
- Sand dollar
- Tube anemone
- Brown shrimp
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- Brittle Star
- Sand perch
- Pinfish
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Bright Wanderers (Lobster Tank)
- Fresh water flows over denser salt water until they mix.
- Bay water salinity fluctuates rapidly between salty and salt-free.
- ‘Euryhaline’ species can live in these wide salinity fluctuation areas.
- Bays are protected marine environments with inlets offering shelter, food and natural “highways” from offshore to inshore.
- Common species found in these areas:
- Highhat
- Sergeant major
- Spanish hogfish
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- Permit
- Spiny Lobster
- Florida horse conch
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Florida Water Lab Exhibit
Florida Bridges Exhibit
- Bridges change the course of water and shrink surrounding bay habitats.
- Pilings provide substrate to support life but disrupt water flow patterns that keep temperature, oxygen and salinity constant.
- Venetian Causeway in Biscayne Bay, built in 1929, is the oldest bridge in Florida.
- Common species found around Florida bridges:
- Great barracuda
- Permit
- Goliath Grouper
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- Cubbyu
- Porcupinefish
- Atlantic spadefish
- Tripletail
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- Tops of pilings exposed by the tide provide a different habitat for different species.
- Bay barnacle
- Eastern oyster
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Florida Beaches Exhibit
- Beaches are dynamic and ever changing from tides, waves and wind.
- Fragile dunes are protected by specially adapted beach plants that can survive exposure to seawater, rain, wind and the sun. (Sea Oats)
- Barrier beaches and islands are built over time by wind, waves and sand. ( Clearwater Beach)
- Common species found in these areas:
- Shark’ teeth fossils
- Seashells
- Least sandpiper
- Black-necked stilt
- American avocet
- Royal Tern
- Gulf flounder
- Horseshoe
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- Peacock flounder
- Lesser scaup
- Yellow goatfish
- Atlantic needlefish
- Yellowfin mojarra
- Striped mullet
- Willet
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