Common ecology of the great salt pond
click pictures for description
Generate as much as 220 volts of electricity. Warm water fish.
Thin shell. Vulnerable to predators.
Male Fiddler Crabs have one large claw to attract female. Gills for breathing in the water but also have a primitive lung allowing them to live on land or in sea. Vital role in salt-marsh ecology, borrowing and feeding on soil allows for healthy marsh lands.
Harmless. Lay thousands of larger, yolk-filled, black solid eggs (about the same size as a pigeon egg) that take one year to incubate.
Open shell on both top and bottom ends, making razor clams easy targets for predators.
Hard, thick shell, can "clam up" and tighten shell so tightly that they can live for days without water.
"Living fossils", horseshoe crabs are over 450 million years old. Swim upside down at a 30 degree angle using book gills under their back legs which also allow them to exchange respiratory gases. Can detect both visible and ultraviolet light. In addition, they only mate in mud or sand.
Shorebird, specifically around salt marshes. Specialized in feeding on bivalves (oysters, clams, and mussels) using its brightly colored bill.
A bivalvia (two valves, or shells, joined by a hinge), extremely sensitive to changes in water quality and seagrass loss. Bay Scallops swim by opening and closing their shell to propel themselves.