Blue Crab
Callinectes sapidus
Molting is the shedding and replacement of an outer hard covering. The process is controlled by hormones. Before the new exoskeleton becomes hard, the Blue Crab is known as a soft shell crab.
(Photo by Rick Wallace)
AUMERC/Sea Grant |
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Eastern Oyster
(Crassostrea virginica)
An oyster may change its sex several times in successive seasons, but larger ones are generally females. Oysters in Alabama can be found breeding from April until October and in isolated cases even during the winter months.
(Photo by Rick Wallace)
AUMERC/Sea Grant |
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White Shrimp
(Penaeus setiferus)
The first young white shrimp born in any given year make their appearance along our shores by early June, and are mostly less than an inch long. These migrate away from the Gulf as summer advances, growing rapidly and attaining lengths up to six inches and more by the end of August. Upon reaching sizes averaging around six inches, they begin to move back to the Gulf from whence they came, never to return to inside waters.
(Photo by Rick Wallace)
AUMERC/Sea Grant |
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Pleated Sea Squirt
( Styela plicata )
photo by John Borom
This large solitary tunicate grows on wharf pilings and ropes in northern Gulf Coast estuaries. It feeds on plankton, water is sucked in, filtered, and expelled. The outer covering or "test " contains cellulose, which is unusual in animals. Individuals are oblong; distinct siphons have four lobes. Central individuals in a clump may be elongated due to competition. |
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Pleated Sea Squirt
( Styela plicata )
photo by John Borom
In their adult form tunicates are little more than a water pump, pumping water in through their vascular system, extracting plankton and pumping the water out. It is in their larval stage that the tunicates display the characteristics which make them part of the same chordate phylum to which all fishes, amphibians.reptiles, birds and mammals belong. Four shared derived characters that distinguish the chordates are the notochord; the dorsal, tubular nerve cord; gill slits; and a postanal tail. |
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Grass Shrimp
(Palaemonetes pugio)
photo by John Borom
Several species of grass shrimp inhabit the estuarine marshes tidal creeks, submerged aquatic vegetation , and bay shores. They are transparent scavergers and are an importent link in food chains. Maximum length is about one and one half inch. |
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Gulf Marsh Fiddler Crab
(Uca longisignalis)
photo by John Borom
Fiddler crabs may be any any of approximately 97 species of semi-terrestrial marine crabs within the genus Uca . They are easily recognized by their distinctively asymmetric claws.It is the males which boast an oversized claw; it plays a role in courtship and signalling.They are an important source of food for shore birds and other animals inhabiting estuarine marshes. |
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Olive Nerite
(Neritina reclivata)
photo by John Borom
This snail averages about one-inch across, and the shell is dark greren in color, usually with fine black lines.It inhabits brackish water and is common in the Mobile Bay esteary. |
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