Encyclopedia of the Seas

Swan Bay

Much of the sandy and muddy bed of Swan Bay is covered with specialised flowering plants called seagrasses. Five species are common in the Bay and they form vast underwater meadows.

Almost everything which lives in the bay feeds on the seagrass, or on something which does. Without seagrass, Swan Bay would be dead. Even dead seagrass is broken down by bacteria and eaten by large numbers of burrowing worms, shellfish, crabs and other crustacea which live in the bed of the Bay. They, in their turn, are eaten by fish and birds.

The seagrass meadows provide shelter and a nursery area for young fish. Among the more abundant species in Swan Bay are Yellow-eyed Mullet and King George Whiting – both important to commercial and amateur fishermen.
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Monterey bay

Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the central coast of California. The bay is south of San Francisco and San Jose, between the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey.

The Monterey Bay Area, or sometimes just Bay Area, are local colloquialisms sometimes used to describe the whole of the coastal communities of Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties. The Monterey Bay Area is also part of the larger area known colloquially as the Central Coast.

Monterey Bay is probably the single most important geographic feature of this part of the central California coast. Just offshore from the Monterey Peninsula, the Monterey Submarine Canyon bisects Monterey Bay, plunging to 6000 ft. and providing a cold-water upwelling rich in nutrients supporting unusually abundant food for seabirds. The nearshore presence of a deep-water canyon within a semi-protected bay is unmatched anywhere in North America and permits superb pelagic birding within a few miles of land. It is only about 25 miles across the mouth of the Bay from Lighthouse Pt., Santa Cruz, to Pt. Pinos in Pacific Grove, so much of the Bay can be transected on a day’s birdwatching boat trip. Over the years field observers have found many ways to observe birds on Monterey Bay. Rollo Beck used a rowboat for some of his collecting a hundred years ago. Various Audubon Societies chartered fishing boats for a day’s sponsored trip on the Bay, and some continue to do so. Professional tour companies have also used chartered fishing boats since the 1970s and they offer dozens of trips each year. Recently, the rise in interest in whale-watching by the public has provided many other options for birding on the bay. While focused birding trips may offer the best chances for the widest selection of seabirds, the common species of Monterey Bay can easily be seen on your own from a whale-watching trip. Remember, however, that Monterey Bay has seasons and that the sea birds change with the seasons. Further, you are unlikely to see all your sought-after species on any single boat trip. Numerous trips at different seasons are needed to see the widest variety of pelagic birds and to maximize your chance for rarities.

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Lesvos_Islands3

Lesbos (Greek: Λέσβος, transliterated from Modern Greek as Lesvos, sometimes also referred to as Mytilini after its major city Mytilene) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of 1632 km² (630 square miles) with 320 kilometres (almost 200 miles) of coastline, making it the third largest Greek island and the largest of the numerous Greek islands scattered in the Aegean. It is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait.

It is also a separate peripheral unit of the North Aegean, and the only municipality of the peripheral unit. Its population is approximately 90,000, a third of which lives in its capital, Mytilene, in the southeastern part of the island. The remaining population is distributed in small towns and villages. The largest are Kalloni, the Gera Villages, Plomari, Agiassos, Eresos, and Molyvos (the ancient Mythymna). Mytilene was founded in the 11th century BC by the family Penthilidae, who arrived from Thessaly, and ruled the city-state until a popular revolt (590–580 BC) led by Pittacus of Mytilene ended their rule.

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Aegean sea

Aegean Sea, Gr. Aigaion Pelagos, Turkish Ege Denizi, arm of the Mediterranean Sea, c.400 mi (640 km) long and 200 mi (320 km) wide, off SE Europe between Greece and Turkey; Crete and Rhodes mark its southern limit. Irregular in shape, it is dotted with islands, most of which belong to Greece; they include Évvoia, the Sporades, the Cyclades, Sámos, Khíos, Lesbos, Thásos, and the Dodecanese. The Aegean Sea’s greatest depths (more than 11,600 ft/3,540 m) are found E of Crete. The Dardanelles strait connects the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea.

Sardines and sponges taken from the Aegean are economically important. There has been considerable tension between Greece and Turkey since the 1970s over oil deposits and mineral rights in the Aegean. The name Aegean has been variously derived from Aegae, a city of Évvoia; from Aegeus, father of Theseus, who drowned himself in the sea believing his son had been slain by the Minotaur; and from Aegea, an Amazon queen who drowned in it. The sea’s ancient name, Archipelago, now applies to its islands and, generally, to any island

group.

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