Shallow Water

The area just below the tidal flats is full of life.  Small fish often spawn in this area, and their young move into the marsh during high tide to feed and seek shelter.
Pink Comb Sea Walnut
Sea Walnut
Scientific Name: Mnemiopsis leidyi Size: 4 in. (10 cm) 
Pink Comb
Scientific Name: Beroe ovata Size: 4.5 in. (11 cm) 
These non-stinging jellyfish-like animals exist in the Chesapeake Bay in even greater numbers and for a longer period than the better-known sea nettles. They are difficult to see during the day but at night may give off a soft green light when disturbed. They are part of the group of “comb” jellies, so named because of the rows of tiny, beating hairs that provide motion and draw in water bearing plankton prey.
Sea Nettle
Sea Nettle
Scientific Name: Chrysaora quinquecirrha
This well-known jellyfish appears in great numbers in the salty water of the Chesapeake Bay during the summer months. Long tentacles extending below the nettle’s body are covered with stinging cells (nematocysts) that are triggered on contact and can stun small shrimp and fish providing food. Swimmers and water-skiers are frequently stung, but the effects are more an annoyance than physical harm.
Size: 4 to 7 in. (10 to 18 cm)
Needlefish
Needlefish
Scientific Name: Strongylura marina
Using their long, toothy, and needle-like jaws, needlefish snatch shrimp and smaller fish. Warm spring weather draws the needlefish from the ocean up the bay, where they school in the shallows.
Size: 9 to 24 in. (23 to 61 cm)
Grass Shrimp
Grass Shrimp
Scientific Name: Palaemonetes pugio
Palaemonetes pugio is the most abundant of the four species of grass shrimp found in the Chesapeake Bay. While many kinds of shrimp are free-swimming, the almost-transparent grass shrimp is typically found in shallow water, crawling over the marsh bottom among submerged vegetation where it scavenges the debris of decaying grasses.
Size: 1.5 to 2 in. (3.8 to 5 cm)
Mummichog
Mummichog
Scientific Name: Fundulus heteroclitus
This old name, meaning “going in crowds,” was given to this small fish by Native American people. Schools of mummichogs are common in shallow waters at the marsh edge. With its under-shot jaw and small mouth, the omnivorous mummichog plucks floating insects and other food items from the surface of the water.
Size: 4 to 5 in. (10 to 13 cm) 
Menhaden
Menhaden
Scientific Name: Brevoortia tyrannus
We find the flesh of menhaden too oily to eat. Still, people catch enormous numbers of this herring cousin and process them for fishmeal, fish oil, and fertilizer. Menhaden are a critical source of food for predator species, such as rockfish and bluefish, that follow the large schools of menhaden throughout the Chesapeake Bay.
Size: 10-18” (25-46 cm) 
Bay Anchovy
Bay Anchovy
Scientific Name: Anchoa mitchilli
The bay anchovy is an important link in the human food chain, but not because we eat it directly. (The salty fillets that garnish pizzas and Caesar salads usually come from a related European species.) Rather, this little fish is a major item in the diet of juvenile bluefish, striped bass, and other game fish prized by people.
Size: 4” (10 cm)