What is laguna madre

These seagrass meadows provide protective nursery areas for larval and juvenile fish, shrimp and crabs as well as cover and feeding areas for adult fish including spotted seatrout and red drum. Because of low fresh water inflow, little rainfall, and high evaporation, the salinity of the Laguna Madre often exceeds that of seawater.

The Laguna Madre system is the only hyper-saline coastal lagoon in North America and one of only five in the world. Despite harsh conditions imposed by high salinities, the Laguna Madre is an extremely productive bay system and is renowned among anglers for its world class fisheries.

Oyster reefs are common in most other bay systems along the Texas coast. Rock reefs represent another natural hard substrate found in the Laguna Madre. There are two types of rock reefs found in the Laguna, both of which provide habitat for a variety of plants and animals.

Reefs comprised of beach rock were formed from the remnants of Gulf beaches that disappeared long ago as the level of the sea rose and fell. The rocks are composed of whole shells, shell fragments, and grains of sand bound together by a calcium carbonate cement.

Although they can be found along the western shore of the lower Laguna Madre, they are most abundant in the upper Laguna Madre just south of Baffin Bay. The second type of rock reef found in the Laguna Madre is the serpulid reefs, the infamous rocks of Baffin Bay. These reefs were formed from the calcareous tubes of serpulid worms. Formation of the reefs began about 3, years ago and ended about years ago. It is home to approximately 77 percent of the North American wintering population of redhead ducks.

It accommodates numerous protected threatened and endangered species, such as piping and snowy plovers, reddish egret, brown pelican, peregrine falcon, and white-tail hawk.

For migrating and wintering shorebirds, the wind-tidal flats and barrier island beaches represent the largest continuous expanse of suitable habitats in North America between the northern breeding grounds and more distant wintering grounds in South America. Some of the most extensive colonial water bird rookeries in Texas are there. The Laguna Madre accounts for almost 80 percent of all Texas seagrass beds. Historically, it is the most productive Texas bay fishery; currently, it is one of the best places for recreational fishing for red drum, black drum and spotted sea trout in North America.

It has the only natural rocky shoreline in Texas, and the only serpulid worm reefs in Texas. It is the only locality of oolite calcium carbonate and gypsum crystal formation in Texas. These characteristics of Laguna Madre and many more on the surrounding land prompted The Nature Conservancy in to designate it a high-priority conservation area.

In our estimation, this highly interesting and significant ecosystem should be considered for protected status, rather than further development or consumptive use.

Like adjacent Padre Island, the longest barrier island in the world, Laguna Madre is of international, not just local, state, or national significance. Furthermore, due to its location in semi-arid South Texas, its waters generally evaporate more than freshwater flows into it, hence its hypersalinity.

Ecologically, this is a negative estuary, one which seawater flows in, rather than out. Environmentally, this is problematic because perturbations to the system can take years to heal since flushing rates are measured in years, rather than days, weeks, or months like other normal or positive estuaries. From this overview, one can easily see that Laguna Madre is a unique and sensitive ecological system.

Inappropriate use or development of Laguna Madre and adjacent lands would be unwise. John W. Federal Flood Funds Reporting. Workshops Workshops. Guthrie, J. Matsumoto, and Q. October 27, Schoenbaechler, C.