Pamlico Sound
By: Meagan Jacobs
Where is Pamlico?
Pamlico Sound extends south and then southwestward some 80 miles (130 km) from Roanoke Island to Cedar Island and is about 15–30 miles (25–50 km) wide; its greatest depths reach 26 feet . It receives the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse-Trent rivers from the west, while the main inlets from the ocean are Ocracoke and Hatteras.
What the importance of The Pamlico Sound?
The Albemarle-Pamlico Sound supports a variety of habitats including wetlands, rivers, and creeks. In these habitats, there lives a diversity of organisms. There are nursery areas located in the creeks and embayments of the estuarine system that are important to over 75 species of fish and shellfish. Shellfish beds are important as well to support the fisheries industry.
What animals live there?
Oysters and clams attach to gravel and old shells on the shoreline, forming spiky oyster beds that help protect the land from erosion. Blue and stone crabs and grass shrimp hatch in the oyster beds and begin to grow there, eating phytoplankton. The environment these species grow in are also protected from the ocean currents. Black sea bass and flounder forage for food among the oysters.
What are some rivers that lead into Pamlico?
The Chowan, Roanoke, Pasquotank, Tar-Pamlico, and Neuse are five major river basins that flow into the Sounds.
What are some threats to Pamlico?
Although the North Carolina estuaries contain 3,000 square miles of surface water, 30,000 square miles of land drains into the Albemarle-Pamlico system. As land is developed for human habitation and use, roads, bridges, culverts, sewage systems, pipelines, and dams change the flow of water through the ecosystem. Whereas wetlands soak up water like a sponge and settle contaminants in the ground, asphalt and concrete deflect water so that it runs off with all its contaminants directly into the rivers, estuaries, and the sea.
Pictures of Pamlico
Giant Eastern NC Redfish...Pamlico Sound Monster Red Drum
Cites Video
To you this is just another fishing story, well your right it is but put a little more thought into the huge monster of a Redfish he is fishing for.
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