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A brackish water fish: Monodactylus argenteus. Brackish water condition commonly occurs when fresh water meets seawater. In fact, the most extensive brackish water habitats worldwide are estuaries, where a river meets the sea. The River Thames flowing through London is a classic river estuary.
A more comprehensive definition of an estuary is "a semi-enclosed body of water connected to the sea as far as the tidal limit or the salt intrusion limit and receiving freshwater runoff; however the freshwater inflow may not be perennial, the connection to the sea may be closed for part of the year and tidal influence may be negligible". [3]
Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the short-finned molly, Poecilia sphenops, which can live in fresh water, brackish water, or salt water. The green crab (Carcinus maenas) is an example of a euryhaline invertebrate that can live in salt and brackish water.
Other types of estuaries also exist and have similar characteristics as traditional brackish estuaries. The Great Lakes are a prime example. There, river water mixes with lake water and creates freshwater estuaries. [20] Estuaries are extremely productive ecosystems that many humans and animal species rely on for various activities. [21]
Model of Estuary. The residence time of water is a key variable determining the health of an estuary, particularly from human-induced stresses.Rapid flushing ensures that there is insufficient time for sediment accumulation or dissolved oxygen depletion in the estuary; thus a well flushed estuary is intrinsically more robust than a poorly flushed estuary. [1]
Mangrove forests survive in the intertidal zones of tropical or subtropical coasts, populated by salt-tolerant trees that protect habitat for many marine species, including crabs, shrimp, and fish. Further examples are coral reefs and seagrass meadows, which are both found in warm, shallow coastal waters. Coral reefs thrive in nutrient-poor ...
Neuston, also called pleuston, are organisms that live at the surface of a body of water, such as an ocean, estuary, lake, river, wetland or pond.Neuston can live on top of the water surface or submersed just below the water surface.
Richard A. Davis Jr. restricts "lagoon" to bodies of water with little or no fresh water inflow, and little or no tidal flow, and calls any bay that receives a regular flow of fresh water an "estuary". Davis does state that the terms "lagoon" and "estuary" are "often loosely applied, even in scientific literature". [1]