Great Bay is located in southern New Jersey's

Atlantic Coastal Plain The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

and Atlantic Counties, about north of

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

and south of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The

Mullica River The Mullica River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in southern New Jersey in the United States. The Mullica was once known as the ''Little Egg Ha ...

flows into the

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, and together they form the Mullica River - Great Bay estuary habitat. The bay is connected to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

via the

Little Egg Inlet Little Egg Inlet is an inlet connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Bay along the southeastern coast of New Jersey, United States. Little Egg Inlet forms a maritime border separating Little Egg Harbor Township in southern Ocean County and Gal ...

. Great Bay is considered one of the least-disturbed marine

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s habitats in the northeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

General

Great Bay averages about in depth, and extensive areas of the estuarine

substratum In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...

are covered with benthic

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

and some vascular plants (seagrasses).

Eelgrass Eelgrass is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Zostera'', marine eelgrass * ''Vallisneria ''Vallisneria'' (named in honor of Antonio Vallisneri) is a genus of freshwater aquatic plant, commonly called eelgrass, tape grass o ...

(''Zostera marina'') beds are an important component of the submerged

aquatic vegetation Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...

(SAV) community in Great Bay, generally where depths are or less but, due to the slightly greater depth in Great Bay, these are not as ubiquitous as they are in the Barnegat/Manahawkin/Little Egg system to the north. Extensive areas ({{convert, 13.58, km2, acre, abbr=on of intertidal sandflats and mudflats occur in the bay, a result of the sediment load from the Mullica River and the movement of sand in through Little Egg Inlet.

Sealife

Finfish make up an important component of the bay's ecosystem. The bay provides an important nursery area for bluefish,

weakfish The weakfish, ''Cynoscion regalis'', is a marine fish of the drum family Sciaenidae. A medium-large, slender, marine fish, it is found along the east coast of North America. The head and back of this fish are dark brown in color with a greenish t ...

menhaden Menhaden, also known as mossbunker and bunker and "the most important fish in the sea", are forage fish of the genera ''Brevoortia'' and ''Ethmidium'', two genera of marine fish in the family Clupeidae. ''Menhaden'' is a blend of ''poghaden'' ...

, and spot ('' Leiostomas xanthurus''), as well as spawning habitat for winter spawners such as sandlance (''

Ammodytes americanus ''Ammodytes americanus'', also known as American sand lance, American sand eel, and sand launce, is a small fish in the family Ammodytidae. First described by James Ellsworth De Kay in 1842, it is widespread in the western North Atlantic. Like a ...

'') and winter flounder and summer spawners like bay anchovy ('' Anchoa mitchilli''), silversides (''

Menidia ''Menidia'' is a genus of Neotropical silversides native to freshwater, brackish and marine habitats along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of North America, ranging from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Canada to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mex ...

'' spp.), gobies ('' Gobiosoma'' spp.), wrasses ('' Labridae'' spp.), and northern pipefish ('' Syngnathus fuscus''). Fisheries investigations were conducted in the 1970s by the

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staff o ...

to determine the fishery composition and life stages of

estuarine fish Coastal fish, also called inshore fish or neritic fish, inhabit the sea between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf. Since the continental shelf is usually less than deep, it follows that pelagic coastal fish are generally ep ...

using this specific bay. Sixty-six species were caught during these studies and, as in the Barnegat system, the catches were dominated by forage species, with bay anchovy and Atlantic silverside ('' Menidia menidia'') being very abundant. The top ranked fish by their relative abundance were: bay anchovy ('' Anchoa mitchilli''), Atlantic silverside ('' Menidia menidia''), silver perch (''

Bairdiella chrysoura The American silver perch, ''Bairdiella chrysoura'', is an American fish. Widespread on the eastern seaboard, the silver perch is commonly caught by inshore anglers in search of larger species. This fish is common up to , but can be found uncommon ...

''), alewife ('' Alosa pseudoharengus''), striped killifish ('' Fundulus majalis''), sea herring (''

Clupea harengus Atlantic herring (''Clupea harengus'') is a herring in the family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species in the world. Atlantic herrings can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. They can ...

''), white perch (''

Morone americana The white perch (''Morone americana'') is not a true perch but is a fish of the temperate bass family, Moronidae, notable as a food and game fish in eastern North America. In some places it is referred to as "Silver Bass". The name "White perc ...

''), northern puffer (''

Sphoeroides maculatus The northern puffer, ''Sphoeroides maculatus'', is a species in the family Tetraodontidae, or pufferfishes, found along the Atlantic coast of North America. Unlike many other pufferfish species, the flesh of the northern puffer is not poisonous ( ...

''), oyster toadfish (''

Opsanus tau The oyster toadfish, ''Opsanus tau'', also known as the oyster toad, ugly toad, oyster cracker, oyster catcher, and bar dog, is a Northeast Atlantic species of fish of the family Batrachoididae. The maximum length of this toadfish is , but they i ...

''), and striped anchovy ('' Anchoa hepsetus''). Commercial fisheries activities include the harvest of northern quahog (''

Mercenaria mercenaria The hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince E ...

''), blue crab (''

Callinectes sapidus ''Callinectes sapidus'' (from the Ancient Greek ,"beautiful" + , "swimmer", and Latin , "savory"), the blue crab, Atlantic blue crab, or regionally as the Chesapeake blue crab, is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic O ...

''), white perch, winter flounder, and American eel (''

Anguilla rostrata The American eel (''Anguilla rostrata'') is a facultative catadromous fish found on the eastern coast of North America. Freshwater eels are fish belonging to the elopomorph superorder, a group of phylogenetically ancient teleosts. The American ...

''). The bay is an important spawning and nursery area for blue crab. The area between Graveling Point and the Wading River tributaries supports large eastern oyster (''

Crassostrea virginica The eastern oyster (''Crassostrea virginica'')—also called the Atlantic oyster, American oyster, or East Coast oyster—is a species of true oyster native to eastern North and South America. Other names in local or culinary use include the Wel ...

'') beds, many of which are considered extremely productive seed beds.

Mullica River - Great Bay estuary

The Mullica River - Great Bay estuary habitat complex encompasses the entire Mullica River - Great Bay estuary and

tidal river A tidal river is a river whose flow and level are influenced by tides. A section of a larger river affected by the tides is a tidal reach, but it may sometimes be considered a tidal river if it has been given a separate name. Generally, tidal ri ...

from its headwater streams to its connection with the

New York Bight The New York Bight is the geological identification applied to a roughly triangular indentation, regarded as a bight, along the Atlantic coast of the United States that extends northeasterly from Cape May Inlet in New Jersey to Montauk Point on ...

through Little Egg Inlet. Included are all riverine and estuarine wetlands to the limit of tidal influence of the Mullica River and its tributaries, the open waters of Great Bay and adjacent salt marsh habitat from the mouth of the Mullica River to Little Egg Inlet, and the inlet itself. This nearly pristine estuary provides seasonal or year-round habitat for a variety of anadromous, estuarine, marine, and freshwater fish and shellfish, nesting and migratory waterbirds and raptors, migratory and wintering waterfowl, and rare brackish and freshwater tidal communities and plants. Also included in the habitat complex are several small

palustrine Palustrine wetlands include any inland wetland that contains ocean-derived salts in concentrations of less than 0.5 parts per thousand, and is non-tidal. The word ''palustrine'' comes from the Latin word ''palus'' or marsh. Wetlands within this ca ...

(nontidal) wetlands immediately adjacent to the estuary that contain exemplary rare natural communities and plant occurrences. Great Bay is part of the New Jersey backbarrier lagoon system, and the resources here are similar to those found in the

Barnegat Bay Barnegat Bay is a small brackish arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately long, along the coast of Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States. It is separated from the Atlantic by the long Island Beach State Park (colloquially called a "ba ...

complex to the north and the Brigantine Bay and Marsh complex to the south. The watershed of the Mullica River in the New Jersey Pinelands is described as part of the New Jersey Pinelands narrative. The majority of the watershed is protected by the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, several large federal and state wildlife management areas, and state forests. The coastal salt, brackish, and freshwater marshes in the Mullica River - Great Bay estuary are extremely important to waterfowl,

raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on v ...

s, wading birds, and shorebirds. Raptors utilize the tidal marshes for nesting and for foraging throughout the year.

Osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

nest on platforms in numerous locations throughout the salt marshes of this system. Significant concentrations of migrating and wintering waterfowl occur in the Mullica River - Great Bay estuary, with an average of over 12,000 waterfowl counted on midwinter aerial surveys.

Sources

USGS evaluation
Bodies of water of Atlantic County, New Jersey Bays of New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway Bodies of water of Ocean County, New Jersey Mullica River Wetlands of New Jersey Estuaries of New Jersey