The Ébrié Lagoon lies in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, separated for almost all of its length from 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 ...

by a narrow coastal strip. The long

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

is linked to the sea by the Vridi Canal, while the Comoë River flows into it. The lagoon averages 4 km (2½ mi) in width, and in depth.

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

and towns such as

Grand Bassam Grand-Bassam () is a town in southeastern Ivory Coast, lying east of Abidjan. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Grand-Bassam Department; it is also a commune. During the late 19th century, Grand-Bassam was briefly the French colonial ...

, Bingerville,

Jacqueville Jacqueville () is a coastal town in southern Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Jacqueville Department in Grands-Ponts Region, Lagunes District. Jacqueville is also a commune. The town is 40 kilometres west of Abidjan. Jacquev ...

, Attécoubé, and

Tiagba Tiagba is a village in southern Ivory Coast, on the north shore of Ébrié Lagoon. It is in the sub-prefectures of Ivory Coast, sub-prefecture of Jacqueville, Jacqueville Department, Grands-Ponts Region, Lagunes District. The village is known for ...

lie on the lagoon.

Geography

The Ébrié Lagoon is a long narrow lagoon complex located in the south of Ivory Coast. It lies parallel with the coast on an east/west axis and consists of several linked lagoons. At the eastern end it is linked by a channel to the Aghien and Potou Lagoons, into which the Mé River flows. The other major rivers flowing into the lagoon are the

Komoé River The Komoé River or Comoé River is a river in West Africa. The river originates on the Sikasso Plateau of Burkina Faso, flow through the Cascades de Karfiguéla, forms a short section of the border between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast until it ...

in the east, the Agnéby River in the centre, and the Ira River in the west. At the western end, Ébrié is linked by the Asagni Canal to the Tagba Lagoon and the Bandama River. It is connected to the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

by the Vridi Canal, which was opened as a navigable channel in 1950. The natural mouth of the complex is at

Grand-Bassam Grand-Bassam () is a town in southeastern Ivory Coast, lying east of Abidjan. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Grand-Bassam Department; it is also a commune. During the late 19th century, Grand-Bassam was briefly the French colonial c ...

, but this tends to silt up during the dry season. There are several large and many small islands in the lagoon. The cities of

, Bingerville,

, Attécoubé,

and

Dabou Dabou is a port town in southern Ivory Coast. It is the seat of both the Lagunes District and the Grands-Ponts Region. It is also the seat of and a sub-prefecture of the Dabou Department. Dabou is also a commune. The town is served by Dabou ...

lie beside the lagoon and it is crossed by four bridges. Coucher de soleil lagune Ébrié Abidjan

The Ébrié Lagoon has an area of approximately , a maximum length of , and a maximum width of . The average depth is and the maximum depth is . The amount of fresh water entering the lagoon varies with the time of year, but averages per year, and tidal exchanges with the sea average per year. The water is brackish, varying in salinity from 0 to 35‰. It is also turbid and polluted, especially near Abidjan, with high levels of

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

and

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

Flora and fauna

There are extensive areas around the lagoon dominated by

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s such as ''

Rhizophora racemosa ''Rhizophora racemosa'' is a species of mangrove tree in the family Rhizophoraceae. It has a patchy distribution on the Pacific coast of Central and South America, occurs in places on the Atlantic coast of that continent, and has a more widesprea ...

'', and the golden leather fern '' Acrostichum aureum''. Elsewhere, there are floating

aquatic plant 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 ...

s in the bays and backwaters, and reeds, sedges and grasses at the edges of the water. The lagoon is separated from the sea by a sandbar and much of the terrain close to the lagoon is

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

y, with taller vegetation and some trees. In the shallow parts of the lagoon there are a range of

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s including

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 ...

worms,

nemertea Nemertea is a phylum of animals also known as ribbon worms or proboscis worms, consisting of 1300 known species. Most ribbon worms are very slim, usually only a few millimeters wide, although a few have relatively short but wide bodies. Many h ...

n worms,

oligochaete Oligochaeta () is a subclass of animals in the phylum Annelida, which is made up of many types of aquatic and terrestrial worms, including all of the various earthworms. Specifically, oligochaetes comprise the terrestrial megadrile earthworm ...

isopod Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...

amphipod Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descr ...

s and

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...

s. Over a hundred species of fish have been recorded in the lagoon, and it and the surrounding swamps are home to the African manatee, the

pygmy hippopotamus The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo (''Choeropsis liberiensis'') is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has ...

, the

Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...

, the

West African slender-snouted crocodile The West African slender-snouted crocodile (''Mecistops cataphractus''), or slender-snouted crocodile, is a critically endangered species of African crocodile. It is one of five species of crocodile in Africa, the other four being the Central A ...

and the dwarf crocodile. Birds such as the

African darter The African darter (''Anhinga rufa''), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq. Taxonomy The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American (''Anhinga anh ...

, the

Pel's fishing owl Pel's fishing owl (''Scotopelia peli'') is a large species of owl in the family Strigidae. The species is found in Africa and lives near rivers and lakes. It feeds nocturnally on fish and frogs snatched from the surface of lakes and rivers. The ...

, the

white-crested tiger heron The white-crested tiger heron (''Tigriornis leucolopha''), also known as the white-crested bittern, is a species of heron in the family Ardeidae. It is in the monotypic genus ''Tigriornis''. It is widely distributed across the Tropical forest, Af ...

and the

goliath heron The Goliath heron (''Ardea goliath''), also known as the giant heron, is a very large wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa, with smaller, declining numbers in Southwest and South Asia. Description This i ...

breed here.

Human use

Parts of the lagoon are highly polluted. Chemical pollution comes from the agricultural and industrial activity in the catchment area, with

fertiliser A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

run off occurring particularly in the wet season. Organic and bacterial pollution occurs mainly in urban areas, with high levels of ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

'' and ''

Clostridium perfringens ''Clostridium perfringens'' (formerly known as ''C. welchii'', or ''Bacillus welchii'') is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming pathogenic bacterium of the genus ''Clostridium''. ''C. perfringens'' is ever-present in nature an ...

'' being detected. There is an artisanal fishery on the lagoon, employing about seven thousand people using four thousand boats with a potential annual catch of around . The bonga shad (''Ethmalosa fimbriata'') accounts for about 75% of the catch, especially in the more polluted waters near Abidjan where it is more abundant than other species. Other fish are found away from the urban areas in unpolluted waters, with the

Atlantic bumper The Atlantic bumper (''Chloroscombrus chrysurus'') is a game fish in the family, Carangidae. It was first described by the "father of modern taxonomy", Carl Linnaeus in the book, ''Systema Naturae''. Atlantic bumper are known to eat smaller fish, ...

(''Chloroscombrus chrysurus'') and the Madeiran sardinella (''Sardinella maderensis'') being abundant, and the Guinean striped mojarra (''Gerres nigri'') and Senegal jack (''Caranx senegallus'') also contributing to the catch.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebrie Lagoon Lagoons of Ivory Coast Abidjan