Florida Bay

Southern third of Florida, showing Florida Bay in pale green off the southern tip of the mainland

Florida Bay is the bay located between the southern end of the Florida mainland (the Florida Everglades) and the Florida Keys in the United States. Its area is variously stated to be 800 square miles (2,100 km²),^[1] or 850 square miles (2,200 km²),^[2] or 1,000 square miles (2,600 km²).^[3] Nearly all of Florida Bay is included in Everglades National Park. The southern edge, along the Florida Keys is in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The bay muds of portions of Florida Bay have been cored to develop insights on the paleontology of previous biota. It has basins with banks in between which are great fishing grounds. The fish caught there are mangrove snapper, mackerel, and various others.

Environmental issues are problematic. Florida Bay used to be teeming with Roseate Spoonbills nesting and other birds and even American Flamingos used to be reported nesting, and the fishing excellent. However, due to fertilizer runoff of agriculture there are expanding dead zones in the bay, creating algae blooms on which bacteria feed, grow and then consume all the oxygen in the water. further microbes thrive in this oxygen free environment, but produce toxic gases where nothing grows. Fish and crustaceans leave, and the birds leave having no food source. ^[4] Canals divert water to the Eastern coast that originally went to Taylor Slough that brought freshwater to the bay through Everglades National Park. Without the freshwater, the water becomes stagnant and salty with excess nitrogen from the fertilizer. ^[5]

References

↑ Everglades National Park, Park Vision
↑ Florida Bay, Encyclopædia Britannica Online
↑ The Ecology of Florida Bay, by Daniel Phirman
↑ David Biello, (2008). Oceanic Dead Zones Continue to Spread. Scientific American.
↑ Robert Mcclure And Don Melvin. (1993). The Dead Zone Once A Teeming Marine Nursery, Florida Bay Today Is Dying. SunSentinel

External links

Media related to Florida Bay at Wikimedia Commons
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Florida Bay

Florida Keys

Biscayne National Park	Soldier Ragged Boca Chita Sands Elliott Adams Caesar's Rock Meig's Rubicon Reid Porgy Totten Old Rhodes Islandia

Upper keys	Key Largo Island CDP North Tavernier Plantation Island former CDP Windley Upper Matecumbe Tea Table Indian Lignumvitae Lower Matecumbe Islamorada

Middle keys	Craig Fiesta Long Layton Conch Little Duck Key Island CDP Grassy Crawl Long Point Fat Deer Vaca Marathon Key Colony Beach Boot Knights

Lower keys	Pigeon Money Little Duck Missouri Ohio Sunshine Bahia Honda Spanish Harbor Scout (West Summerland) No Name Big Pine Torch Little Middle Big Ramrod Summerland Knockemdown Cudjoe Sugarloaf Park Lower Sugarloaf Saddlebunch Shark Geiger Big Coppitt Island CDP East Rockland Rockland Boca Chica Raccoon Stock Island Island CDP Key West Island City Sigsbee Fleming Sunset Wisteria

Outlying islands	Mule Keys Mule Crawfish Archer Joe Ingram Big Mullet Barracouta Cottrell Man Little Mullet Ballast Woman Boca Grande Marquesas Keys Dry Tortugas Tortugas Banks (submerged)

Areas	Florida Bay Dry Tortugas National Park Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary National Key Deer Refuge John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Biscayne Bay Biscayne National Park Key West National Wildlife Refuge Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge Florida Reef

Other topics	Monroe County Conch Republic Overseas Highway Overseas Railroad Card Sound Bridge Jewfish Creek Bridge Seven Mile Bridge Bahia Honda Rail Bridge Fort Jefferson Theater of the Sea Hurricane Wilma 1935 Labor Day hurricane Key Deer Key lime pie Florida Keys Keynoter Key West Citizen

Everglades

Geography and ecology Indigenous people Draining and development Restoration Everglades National Park Invasive species

People	Guy Bradley Ernest F. Coe Hamilton Disston Marjory Stoneman Douglas Arthur R. Marshall Garald G. Parker

Protected areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Biscayne National Park Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

Bodies of water	Biscayne Bay Caloosahatchee River Fisheating Creek Florida Bay Indian River Lagoon Kissimmee River Lake Okeechobee Lake Worth Lagoon Shark River St. Lucie River Taylor Slough

See also	Alligator Alley Biscayne Aquifer Burmese pythons in Florida Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan Environmental Impact of the Big Cypress Swamp Jetport Everglades Foundation Friends of the Everglades Homestead Air Force Base South Florida Water Management District Tamiami Trail U.S. Sugar

Book:Everglades Category:Everglades Portal:Florida

Coordinates: 25°00′01″N 80°44′59″W / 25.00028°N 80.74972°W / 25.00028; -80.74972

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