Baffin Bay is a bay in

South Texas South Texas is a 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 this region is about 4.96 ...

, an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, 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 marine geogra ...

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, Kenedy, Kleberg, Willacy and Cameron Counties in Texas, United States. It is one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast ...

. Located near the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

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

Kleberg County Kleberg County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 31,040. The county seat is Kingsville. The county was organized in 1913 and is named for Robert J. Kleberg, an early settler. Kleberg County is ...

Etymology

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

Mifflin Kenedy Mifflin may refer to: Places United States * Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Mifflin, Indiana * Mifflin, Ohio * Mifflin, Pennsylvania * Mifflin County, Pennsylvania * Mifflin, Tennessee * Mifflin, West Virginia * Mifflin, Wisco ...

(1818–1895), after visiting the Arctic

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay ( Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arct ...

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 and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, 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; ) 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 ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

(in Russian)

Hydrology

The Baffin Bay has three branches, which are named as follows (counterclockwise on the map above):

Alazan Bay Alazan Bay is located in southeast Texas, United States in Kleberg County near the city of Kingsville. The mouth of Alazan Bay feeds into Baffin Bay (Texas), Baffin Bay and among the three bays that extend off Baffin Bay, Alazan Bay is the largest ...

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 stream ...

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 environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

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

Halodule ''Halodule'' is a genus of plants in the 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 been reported in ...

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 A tubeworm is any worm-like sessility (zoology), sessile invertebrate that anchors its tail to an underwater surface and secretes around its body a mineral tube, into which it can withdraw its entire body. Tubeworms are found among the following t ...

. 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 8 and 40 meters (26 to 131 ft) in diameter and 0.5 to 2 meters (1.5–6.6 ft) in height above the sediment. Their total area is about 16 km² (6 mi²), 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 prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word f ...

'' 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 native to sout ...

''), greenbriar (''

Smilax ''Smilax'' is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found (39 of which are endemic), while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico. They are climbing flowering ...

'' spp.), sunflowers (''

Helianthus ''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 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 i ...

''), crinkleawn (''

Trachypogon spicatus ''Trachypogon'' is a small genus of African and Latin American plants in the grass family. Crinkleawn grass is a common name for plants in this genus. ; Species * '' Trachypogon chevalieri'' (Stapf) Jacq.-Fél. - western + central Africa * '' T ...

''), gulfdune paspalum ('' Paspalum monostachyum''), fringed signalgrass ('' Urochloa ciliatissima''), shrubby oxalis ('' Oxalis frutescens angustifolia''), dayflower (''

Commelina ''Commelina'' is a genus of approximately 170 species commonly called dayflowers due to the short lives of their flowers. They are less often known as widow's tears. It is by far the largest genus of its family, Commelinaceae. The Swedish taxonom ...

'' spp.), Texas lantana (''

Lantana urticoides ''Lantana urticoides'', also known as Texas Lantana, is a three- to five-foot perennial shrub that grows in Mexico and the U.S. states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi especially along the Gulf coast. The plant can blossom from spring until th ...

''), Texas bullnettle (''

Cnidoscolus texanus ''Cnidoscolus texanus'', commonly known as Texas bullnettle (also Texas bull nettleNieland, Lashara J. and Willa F. Finley (2009) Lone Star Wildflowers: A Guide to Texas Flowering Plants. Texas Tech University Press. Lubbock, Texas x, 320 pp. an ...

''), silverleaf nightshade (''

Solanum elaeagnifolium ''Solanum elaeagnifolium'', the silverleaf nightshade or silver-leaved nightshade, is a common native plant to parts of the southwestern USA, and sometimes weed of western North America and also found in South America. Other common names include ...

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

annelid The annelids (Annelida , from Latin ', "little ring"), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecol ...

s and 29 species of

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

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 (biology), class of generally marine invertebrate, marine annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that ...

s and mollusks. Invertebrates are represented by the endemic

fiddler crab The fiddler crab or calling crab may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae, well known for their sexual dimorphism, sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than th ...

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 ''Cynoscion nebulosus'', the spotted seatrout, 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 thes ...

. 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 The threadfin shad (''Dorosoma petenense'') is a small pelagic fish common in rivers, large streams, and reservoirs of the Southeastern United States. Like the American gizzard shad, the threadfin shad has an elongated dorsal ray, but unlike the ...

(in low salinity periods),

pompano Pompanos ( ) are marine fishes in the genus ''Trachinotus'' in the family Carangidae (better known as "jacks"). Pompano may also refer to various other, similarly shaped members of the Carangidae, or the order Perciformes. Their appearance is o ...

black drum The black drum (''Pogonias cromis''), also known as the drum or drummer, is a saltwater fish similar to its cousin, the red drum. It is in the genus '' Pogonias''. Though most specimens are generally found in the 5-30 lb (2–14 kg) ran ...

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