The Salt Marsh

Salt marshes are found around the world, but the one you are about to tour can be found right here in South Carolina on the North American continent. Salt marshes are located only along the coast. This is because a salt marsh is an area that is flooded by saline (salty) water. The salt marshes are better developed as you move farther south in South Carolina.

Within this Series

Periwinkle | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

At low tide, the periwinkles crawl down to the base of the stem, where algae grow best, and graze the algae off the stems. When the tide rises, however, the periwinkles crawl up the stems. Why don't...

Pseudofeces | The Salt Marsh

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These tiny balls of sand or mud, perfectly round, are called pseudofeces because they look like fecal pellets. Like true feces, they are bits of indigestible material, but they have never passed...

Salt Grass | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Salt grass sends underground stems called rhizomes into the salt flat. Sprouts from these rhizomes make stems and leaves above ground. You can see where the rhizome lies underground because the stems...

Scat | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

This scat is from the same animal. It ís full of seeds and the shells of fiddler crabs. Who ate them?

Shrimp | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Three different species of shrimp are collected commercially from offshore and from the salt marsh. They are the pink shrimp, the brown shrimp, and the white shrimp. They are large, up to 10 inches in...

Snowy Egret | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Snowy egrets are smaller versions of the great egret. They have white feathers, black legs with yellow feet, and a black bill. Snowies sometimes wade slowly through shallow water, stirring the mud...

Spot & Croaker | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Spot and croaker are closely related fish. They look alike, with light vertical bands, but the spot is named for a dark spot just behind its gill cover. All members of this group of fish make noises...

Sun Sponge | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

The sun sponge is named for its unusual lifestyle. It is one of the very few sponges that can tolerate exposure to the sun and air. Nearly every other sponge will die when air gets into its body. Most...

Threats of the Marsh | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Pesticides, manure, and fertilizers run off farm fields and enter the food chain of the marsh. Chemicals from factories are also added to the rivers and end up downstream in the salt marsh, where they...

Tricolored Heron | The Salt Marsh

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

The tricolored heron is bluish on the back and wing, white on its belly and throat, and reddish-brown on the back of its neck and head. This medium-sized heron is the most common heron of the salt...

White Ibis | The Salt Marsh

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White ibis use their long, curved bills to probe into the burrows of the fiddler crabs and pull them out to eat. IBIS. Along with the clapper rail, white ibis are the major bird consumers of the salt...