Gulf Coasts Barrier Islands

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Gulf CoastsBarrier Islands
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MS Coastal Islands

• The Sand that forms our barrier islands comes
  from the Appalachian Mountains esp. around
  Georgia, so todays sand dunes were perhaps,
  thousands of years ago, a mountain top near
  Georgia and South Carolina.
• The main sand component is quartz.
• The Mississippi Sound is an average of 12-15 feet
  deep.
• Our islands are moving west and in 100s of years
  will eventually be in LA.

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Gulf of Mexico Loop Current
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Gulf Coasts Barrier Islands
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Mississippis Barrier Islands
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Areas of Barrier Islands

• Wrack Line
• Primary Dunes
• Secondary Dunes
• Maritime Forest

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The Isle of Caprice
Emerged around 1900 Favorite excursion resort
in 1920s for New Orleanians escaping the hot,
humid summers. Storm erosion and harvesting of
sea oats cut back the island. The casino on it
burned and then the island disappeared completely
with a hurricane in 1947.
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A Cultural Side Note

• Gambling in Mississippi began before the new
  World was discovered. American Indians were
  fond of games and gambling. Easy access by water
  continued the tradition during the early history
  of our country. Gambling was also prevalent in
  the Landing, a riverside region in Vicksburg, and
  in Natchez-Under-the-Hill. Steamboat travelers
  encountered gambling houses, horse racing and
  cockfighting.
• From Gambling in Mississippi Its Early History,
  Deanne S. Nuwer

Out for a night in Biloxi. Gambler Bob Thompson,
center, in the lobby of the Avelez Hotel cashing
in his winning bet against Salvatore Joseph
Sicuro. The winner got to kiss Sicuros wife,
Josephine Louise Sicuro, left. Sicuro, rear, had
his lounge business in the Avelez Hotel. Circa
1946 photograph courtesy Claude Sicuro.
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Chandeleur Island
The sand on Chandeleur comes from the
Mississippi River, so their sand is finer than
our sand. The island is slowly sinking.
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Cat Island
In the shape of a T Erodes N to S because of
the MS River delta. Named Isle aux Chats (Cat
Island) because Bienville and DIberville saw
many raccoons they thought were cats. A lot of
the island is still privately owned.
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Ship Island
Split by Hurricane Camille in 1969 into east and
west Ship Island. 10,000 British soldiers camped
here during the war of 1812, many of these
soldiers had bombarded the defenses of Baltimore,
Maryland and burned the White House in Washington
D.C. Union troops used it for their 1862
invasion of New Orleans. Became protected in
1971 by the US Congress. Located 12 miles south
of the coastline. Named Ship Island because of
its natural channel for ships.
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Ship Island Cont.
Named after the Union ship USS Massachusetts,
which arrived at the island during the Civil
War. After the Civil War, it was used as a
quarantine station during the yellow fever
plague. Officials debated on whether a fort was
really necessary off the MS Coast, however
Secretary of War Jefferson Davis pressured
Congress to build the fort. Construction began
in 1859. After 2 years, only 8 feet of the outer
walls were constructed. The fort was complete in
1866. The cannon barrels weigh 50,000 pounds and
the cannons weigh 400 pounds. The fort
originally was supposed to have 37 cannons but
only 17 were mounted.
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Horn Island
13 miles long. Named Horn because one of Sieur
Bienvilles men lost a powder horn there in the
1600s. Army used the island as a biological
warfare experimental station in 1943. Supposedly
all live-stock and domestic animals, except those
used in experimentations, were removed. There
are reports that experimental hogs still roam the
island today. Only the chimneys remain
today. Local artist Walter Anderson stayed here
during Hurricane Betsy in 1965, tied to a
tree. The Waters family lived here from 1845
until a hurricane drove them away. They raised
their own livestock and crops. Protected in 1971
and designated a wilderness are in 1978 by the US
Congress. Supposedly the first map summarizing
the discoveries of the western ocean and the
Gulf of Mexico by Christopher Columbus shows Horn
Island. Less fire ants on this island than ANY
other barrier island on the coast because no
pesticides were used!!
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Petit Bois Island
6 miles long with a few little trees means
little wood. This island used to be part of
Alabamas Dauphin Island, however about 150 years
ago a hurricane carved it away and it has since
migrated into MS waters. Protected in 1971 and
designated a wilderness area in 1978 by the US
Congress.
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Dauphin Island
First and largest of the barrier island
chain. 14 miles long Indian tribes had a
religious temple on it prior to 1519. Forested
with oak and pine trees. Named Dauphin Island
because when explorers found it in the 1600s
there were 100s of dead dolphins on it.
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Island Vegetation Zones

• Salt and brackish marsh
• Saltgrass, rushes
• Tidal freshwater marsh
• Arrowhead, spikerush, bullrush
• Maritime shrub
• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) a woody,
  perennial herb with fragrant evergreen
  needle-like leaves, a member of the mint family
  "dew of the sea", scrub oaks, eastern baccharis
• Maritime slash pine savannah
• Slash pine, salt meadow cordgrass
• Maritime evergreen forest
• Live oak, upland laurel oak, slash pine

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Marsh Grasses

• Smooth cordgrassSpartina alterniflora

• Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus Scheele

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Dune Grasses

• Dune grass Sea Oats
• Uniola paniculata

• Salt grass
• Distichlis spicata
• 12 Pushes salt crystals out through glands on
  the leaves.

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Plants to watch for

• Arrowhead
• Sagittaria spp., an obligate wetland plant

• Eastern baccharis Baccharis halimifolia L.
  endangered

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Common associates

• Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) has 3, 6" to 10"
  needles per fascicle. Cones are 3" to 6" long,
  but they are light reddish-brown and persist for
  three years of growth. Cones are far pricklier
  than slash. Bark is thick and divides into
  irregular, dark brown scaly blocks.

• Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) has "brooms" of 2 to
  3, 5" to 11" long needles per fascicle at the
  ends of rough twigs. Cones 5" to 8" in length.
  Bark has large, flat, orange-brown plates.

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Common AnimalsSpecies Ocypode quadrata Ghost
Crab
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Species Ocypode quadrata Ghost Crab

• Scuttle at speeds up to 10 mph
• Sharp 360 vision which they use to see flying
  insects and catch them in mid air. The ghost
  crab, however, cannot see directly up, so it must
  burrow into the ground to prevent birds from
  catching it.
• Ghost crab tunnels down four feet into the ground
  at a 45 angle, creating 1-2 inch wide holes,
  which speckle the beach.
• At dusk, these crabs will sprint to the ocean in
  order to obtain oxygen from the water which
  washes over their gills
• Ghost crabs hibernate during the winter, holding
  their breath for six months, by storing oxygen in
  sacs near the gills. They can also have a natural
  filter system which gathers oxygen from the air,
  enough to survive for one year without entering
  into water.

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Horseshoe CrabSpecies Limulus polyphemus
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Horseshoe CrabSpecies Limulus polyphemus

• A marine chelicerate arthropod. Despite its name,
  it is more closely related to spiders, ticks, and
  scorpions than to crabs
• The female is typically 25 to 30 percent larger
  than the male.
• Before becoming mature around age 9, they have to
  shed their shells some 17 times. They can live
  for as long as 31 years.
• Lay 15,000-64,000 eggs per female
• Horseshoe crabs are distant relatives of spiders
  and are probably descended from the ancient
  eurypterids (sea scorpions). They evolved in the
  shallow seas of the Paleozoic Era (540-248
  million years ago). The four species of horseshoe
  crab are the only remaining members of the class
  Merostomata, one of the oldest classes of marine
  arthropods. Horseshoe crabs are often referred to
  as living fossils, as they have changed little in
  the last 445 million years
• Horseshoe crabs possess the rare ability to
  regrow lost limbs.

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Horseshoe CrabSpecies Limulus polyphemus

• Horseshoe crabs are valuable as a species to the
  medical research community. The horseshoe crab
  has a simple but effective immune system. When a
  foreign object such as a bacterium enters through
  a wound in the animal's body, a substance called
  Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) almost immediately
  clots into a clear gel-like material, effectively
  trapping the foreign body. LAL is used to test
  for bacterial endotoxins in pharmaceuticals and
  for several bacterial diseases. If the bacterium
  is harmful, the blood will form a clot. Horseshoe
  crabs are helpful in finding remedies for
  diseases that have developed resistances to
  penicillin and other drugs. Horseshoe crabs are
  returned to the ocean after bleeding. Studies
  show that blood volume returns to normal in about
  a week, though blood cell count can take two to
  three months to fully rebound. A single horseshoe
  crab can be worth 2,500 over its lifetime for
  periodic blood extractions.

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Blue CrabCallinectes sapidus
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Blue CrabCallinectes sapidus
The number of eggs in a single sponge ranges from
700,000 to one million.
It takes about two weeks for the eggs to "ripen"
and be released into the water to hatch. It is
illegal in many states to possess sponge crabs.
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Blue CrabCallinectes sapidus

• Greek calli"beautiful", nectes"swimmer", and
  Latin sapidus"savory"
• The blue crab is an omnivore, eating both plants
  and animals. Blue crabs typically consume
  thin-shelled bivalves, annelids, fish, plants,
  and nearly any other item they can find
• The most important commercial crab species in the
  Gulf of Mexico. 
• Though she mates only once, she stores a portion
  of the sperm and is capable of producing fertile
  eggs for one or more additional "sponges" during
  her life.  Males will mate throughout their life
  span.
• It has been estimated that a crab (including
  larval molts) will shed approximately 25 times
  during its life

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Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis
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Brown PelicanPelecanus occidentalis

• Shooting for feathers and to "protect" fishing
  caused declines in pelican populations in the
  first half of the 20th century. Pesticide
  poisoning, especially by DDT, caused severe
  declines across the range in the late 1950's and
  the expiration from Louisiana ("the pelican
  state"). It was listed as Endangered throughout
  the range in 1970. The ban on DDT led to a
  population recovery, and it was removed from the
  Endangered Species list in Atlantic Coast states
  in 1985. Breeding numbers in most states are
  stable or increasing, and the total population in
  the United States now exceeds historical levels.
• Is the smallest of the eight species of pelican,
  although it is a large bird in nearly every other
  regard. It is 106-137 cm (42-54 in) in length,
  weighs from 2.75 to 5.5 kg (6-12 lb) and has a
  wingspan from 1.83 to 2.5 m (6 to 8.2 ft).

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Laughing GullLarus atricilla
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Laughing GullLarus atricilla

• Nest colonies in northeastern United States were
  nearly eliminated by egg and plume hunters in the
  late 19th century. Populations have increased
  over the last century, following protection.
• The male and female Laughing Gull usually build
  their nest together. If a male cannot find a
  mate, he may start building a nest platform and
  then use it to attract a female.
• Laughing Gulls take three years to reach adult
  plumage. Immature birds are always darker than
  most similar sized gulls other than Franklin's.
  First year birds are greyer below and have paler
  heads than first year Franklin's, and second
  years can be distinguished on the wing pattern
  and structure.

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ShrimpWhite Litopenaeus setiferus Pink
Pandalus jordani Brown Farfantepenaeus
aztecus
Pink Shrimp
White Shrimp
Brown Shrimp
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White Shrimp Litopenaeus setiferus

• Few white shrimp live as long as a year, and the
  maximum lifespan is about two years
• Spawning happens as far as 9 km from the shore,
  and involves between 50,000 and 1 million eggs
  being released at a time. The eggs sink to the
  bottom of the water as they are released and
  hatch 10-12 hours later.
• Juvenile shrimp can grow 1.2 mm per day during
  late spring and summer months, but growth is slow
  in the spring.

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Brown Shrimp Farfantepenaeus aztecus

• Adults are typically 3050 mm (1¼2 in) long,
  although individuals up to 90 mm have been
  recorded.
• They live in shallow water, which can also be
  slightly brackish, and feed nocturnally. During
  the day, they remain buried in the sand to escape
  predatory birds and fish, with only their
  antennae protruding.

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Pink Shrimp Pandalus jordani

• Sexually dimorphic, with large males attaining a
  length of 169 mm, and large females reaching over
  280 mm
• Individuals reaching sexual maturity may live a
  year or more
• Sub-adults and adults show pronounced diurnal
  activity patterns, remaining burrowed in the
  substratum during the daylight hours, and
  becoming active in the water column in the
  evening.

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Portuguese Man of WarPhysalia physalis
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Portuguese Man of WarPhysalia physalis

• Commonly thought of as a jellyfish but is
  actually a siphonophorea colony of specialized
  polyps and medusoids.
• It has no means of propulsion, but is moved by a
  combination of winds, currents, and tides. Very
  rarely is a single Portuguese Man O' War seen,
  but rather the discovery of one is usually a
  warning of more to come
• To escape a surface attack, the pneumatophore can
  be deflated allowing the Man O' War to briefly
  submerge.
• Below the main body dangle long tentacles, which
  sometimes reach ten metres (33 feet) in length
  below the surface, although one metre (three
  feet) is the average
• Stings from the tentacles can be dangerous to
  humans, but usually are not. These stings usually
  cause excruciating pain, and have even been the
  cause of a few deaths. Detached tentacles and
  specimens which wash up on shore can sting just
  as painfully as the intact creature in the water
  for days to weeks after their detachment. The
  venom can travel up to the lymph nodes and may
  cause, depending on the amount of venom, more
  intense pain. Medical attention is usually
  necessary, especially in extreme cases.

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Comb JelliesPleurobrachia pileus (Sea
Gooseberry)Cestum veneris (Comb Jelly)
Comb Jelly
Sea Gooseberry
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Comb JelliesPleurobrachia pileus (Sea
Gooseberry)Cestum veneris (Comb Jelly)

• Despite their appearance, they are zoologically
  not jellyfish, not least because they lack the
  characteristic cnidocytes (stinging cells) but
  have connective tissues and a nervous system.
  There are close to 150 described species of
  ctenophora spread throughout the world's oceans,
  from shallow estuarine waters to the deep sea
• The light emission of ctenophores is not
  bioluminescence but merely diffraction of ambient
  light,
• There is no separate exit from the stomach apart
  from two 'anal pores', which despite their name
  appear to be only moderately used for excretion,
  so indigestible waste is principally expelled via
  the mouth.

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Sand Fleas(Mole Crabs)Genus Emerita
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Sand Fleas(Mole Crabs)Genus Emerita

• Mole crabs live under sand in shallow water near
  the shore, and live from two to three years. They
  have the color of rippled sand at the water's
  edge and live mostly buried in the sand in the
  zone where the waves wash up onto the beach, with
  their antennnae reaching into the water forming a
  V-shaped obstacle in the water as the wave
  recedes. These antennae filter plankton and
  organic debris from the water. Mole crabs also
  eat the tentacles of Portuguese man o war, which
  are collected by winding the tentacle around the
  mole crab's leg. Their camouflage protects them
  from their predators - chiefly fish and birds.

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A great resource for teachers

• http//www.marine-ed.org/bridge/