Baffin Bay is a bay in

South Texas South Texas is a geographic and cultural region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of th ...

, an

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

of the larger

Laguna Madre The Laguna Madre is a long, shallow, hypersaline lagoon along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Nueces County, Texas, Nueces, Kenedy County, Texas, Kenedy, Kleberg County, Texas, Kleberg, Willacy County, Texas, Willacy and Cameron Coun ...

. Located near the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

, Baffin Bay forms part of the boundary between Kenedy County and Kleberg County.

Etymology

The history of the bay name is unclear. The most popular story is that Captain

Mifflin Kenedy Mifflin Kenedy (June 8, 1818 – March 14, 1895) was an American businessman and rancher. He began his steamboating career on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers. He then went to Texas and northern Mexico, where he helped get many steamboa ...

(1818–1895), after visiting the Arctic

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...

as a young man, gave the same name to the bay in Texas because of the remarkable contrast between the bays. The Arctic Baffin Bay is located between the

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, and it is about 310 times larger by area than the Baffin Bay in Texas.Baffin Bay
,

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

(in Russian)

Hydrology

The Baffin Bay has three branches, which are named as follows (counterclockwise on the map above): Alazan Bay on the north (green), Cayo del Grullo (purple) and Laguna Salada (blue). Several

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s, including San Fernando, Santa Gertrudis and Los Olmos, flow into the bay, but only when it rains. Because of the scarce freshwater inflow and extensive evaporation, which is promoted by shallow water and warm climate, the bay has a relatively high water salinity reaching 75‰ (parts per thousand) in its northern part. Between 1946 and 1948 and in 1968, the salinity level in the bay exceeded 100‰ killing much fish in the area. About 21 km² of the bottom of the bay is covered in

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

; most other parts are dominated by shoal grass (''

Halodule ''Halodule'' is a genus of plants in the family (biology), family Cymodoceaceae described as a genus in 1841. It is widespread on tropical and semi-tropical ocean shores of all continents except Europe and Antarctica. Species Hybridization has ...

beaudettei'') with occasional rocky outcrops. Scattered parts of the bay, mostly near the mouth, contain the relict serpulid worm reefs, which are composed of the remains of

serpulid The Serpulidae are a family of sessile, tube-building annelid worms in the class Polychaeta. The members of this family differ from other sabellid tube worms in that they have a specialized operculum that blocks the entrance of their tubes wh ...

tube worms. Although some tube worm species still inhabit the bay area and the reefs, they bring no significant contribution to the reef structure. Most reefs are circular or ellipsoid structures between in diameter and in height above the sediment. Their total area is about , but it is gradually reducing due to erosion.

Climate

The climate has been described as semiarid, subhumid or subtropical, with a very varying precipitation. Tropical storms and hurricanes are common, and they strongly alter the climate and hydrology of the region.

Flora and fauna

The lands around the bay are flat and dominated by grasslands and oak savanna; they are used for agriculture and cattle farming.Bartlett, p. 15 Common tree and plant species include southern live oak (''

Quercus virginiana ''Quercus virginiana'', also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South. ...

''), prickly pear (''

Opuntia ''Opuntia'', commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid clima ...

'' spp.), lime prickly-ash (''

Zanthoxylum fagara ''Zanthoxylum fagara'' or wild lime, is a species of flowering plant that—despite its name—is not part of the genus ''Citrus'' with real limes and other fruit, but is a close cousin in the larger citrus family, Rutaceae. It is more closely ...

''), greenbriar (''

Smilax ''Smilax'' is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family (biology), family Smilacaceae, native through ...

'' spp.), sunflowers (''

Helianthus ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising around 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to ...

'' spp.), tanglehead (''

Heteropogon contortus ''Heteropogon contortus'' is a tropical, perennial tussock grass with a native distribution encompassing Southern Africa, southern Asia, Northern Australia, Oceania, and southwestern North America. The species has also become a naturalised weed ...

''), crinkleawn ('' Trachypogon spicatus''), gulfdune paspalum ('' Paspalum monostachyum''), fringed signalgrass ('' Urochloa ciliatissima''), shrubby oxalis ('' Oxalis frutescens angustifolia''), dayflower ('' Commelina'' spp.), Texas lantana ('' Lantana urticoides''), Texas bullnettle ('' Cnidoscolus texanus''), silverleaf nightshade (''

Solanum elaeagnifolium ''Solanum elaeagnifolium'', the silverleaf nightshade or silver-leaved nightshade, is a species of plant in the Solanaceae, nightshade family native to North and South America. It is common in parts of southwestern USA, and sometimes weed of wes ...

''), crotons ('' Croton'' spp.) and Lindheimer tephrosia ('' Tephrosia lindheimeri''). The waters of the bay contain several species of

annelid The annelids (), also known as the segmented worms, are animals that comprise the phylum Annelida (; ). The phylum contains over 22,000 extant species, including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to vario ...

s and 29 species of

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma'') is any member of a large group comprising several Genus, genera of algae, specifically microalgae, found in the oceans, waterways and soils of the world. Living diatoms make up a significant portion of Earth's B ...

s. The dominant mollusks are dwarf surf clams and ''

Capitella capitata Capitella capitata is a polychaete worm that grows up to 10 cm in length. It is often blood-red in colour. The species is sedentary and fragile, with a flexible body. ''Capitella capitata'' occurs on muddy sand, gritty sand, fine sand or r ...

''. The serpulid worm reefs are inhabited by crustaceans,

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

s and mollusks. Invertebrates are represented by the endemic

fiddler crab The fiddler crab or calling crab can be one of the hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae. These crabs are well known for their extreme sexual dimorphism, where the male crabs have a major claw significantly l ...

species ''Uca subcylindrica'', which reside on dry soil, more than 20 meters from bay waters. The bay is a popular destination for recreational angling and is famous for its trophy

spotted seatrout Spotted seatrout (''Cynoscion nebulosus''), also known as speckled trout, is a common estuarine fish found in the southern United States along coasts of Gulf of Mexico and the coastal Atlantic Ocean from Maryland to Florida. While most of these ...

. Other species include

redfish Redfish is a common name for several species of fish. It is most commonly applied to certain deep-sea rockfish in the genus ''Sebastes'', red drum from the genus ''Sciaenops'' or the reef dwelling snappers in the genus ''Lutjanus''. It is also app ...

, threadfin shad (in low salinity periods),

pompano Pompanos ( ) are saltwater fish, marine fish in the genus ''Trachinotus'' in the family (biology), family Carangidae (better known as "slabs"). Pompano may also refer to various other, similarly shaped members of the Carangidae, or the Order (bi ...

black drum The black drum (''Pogonias cromis''), also known as the drum or drummer, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is found in the western North Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of ...

and burrowing goby,McKee, p. 155 etc.

Notes

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{Authority control Bays of Texas Bodies of water of Kenedy County, Texas Bodies of water of Kleberg County, Texas