Ninigret Salt Pond

Physical Characteristics

The salt pond is a low energy environment (no crashing waves or strong currents) filled with nutrients and sunlight - the perfect place for plants to grow. Salt marshes fringe or grow around the edge of much of the pond. Beds of eelgrass grow abundantly in the quieter sections of the pond. Salt marshes and eelgrass beds provide a perfect place for small fishes and invertebrates to find shelter and food.

"Do you live here or are you just visiting?"

Ninigret Salt Pond has all kinds of organisms- some that live there and some that just visit. For many organisms the pond is a place where they live when they are youngsters. For instance, you might not know that the juveniles of many large sportfish like tautog, striped bass, and bluefish live in the relative safety of the salt pond when they're fry and leave for the ocean after they reach juvenile age. For birds like herons and egrets, the salt pond is a place to spend the spring through summer feeding. In the warmest months of the summer, tropical species carried north by the Gulf Stream are often swept into the pond by storms or currents. Don't think that all the animals that you might see in the salt pond are only passing through! The mummichog, quahog, oyster, and horseshoe crab are permanent residents. They're born in the pond and they live there their entire lives.

       
Some of the biota you might see when you visit the salt pond.