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Blue Crabs have many different symbiotic relationships. Young blue crabs have a relationship with aquatic plants that demonstrates mutualism.

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Critter's Common Name: Zooplankton
Scientific Name:  Cyclops Strenuus
Description: various colors, but most are translucent, 2 pairs of large antennae (1st pair is longer), 1 eye that is red, teardrop shaped body, armored exoskeleton, rounded or beaked head, size can range from being very microscopic to the size of jellyfish as big as 8 feet
Food Source: Zooplankton and other kinds of plankton are known as "filter feeders". Filter feeders are organisms that feed by filtering out nutrients in the water. Zooplankton also feed on other kinds of plankton. (Zooplankton don't produce their own food because they are animals, not plants.)
Habitat: Habitats can vary for different species of zooplankton. Each species of zooplankton needs a certain amount of light, temperature, turbulence, and salinity in its habitat. They usually live in most bodies of water (oceans, lakes, ponds, etc.).
Migrate: Zooplankton do migrate;  they go down in morning but up in the afternoon to follow prey. In a way, zooplankton also drift through the ocean.
Niche: The zooplankton forms a link between the community of phytoplankton and species of higher levels in the food web. Fish also depend on zooplankton for food during the larval phase of their lives. Zooplankton are also filter feeders using their appendages to get bacteria.
Competition/Cooperation: Zooplankton don't really interact with other organisms, except they feed on other kinds of plankton.
Challenges: predators (because they are prey to many animals such as mollusks, small Crustaceans like shrimp and krill, small fish such as sardines and herring) and pollution (the water and air surrounding the zooplankton contains many pollutants)
Symbiotic relationships: parasitism - animals such as whales and fish eat off zooplankton
Importance: Zooplankton are a good indicator of the Bay's and other ecosystems' (that contain zooplankton) health. This is because they are very sensitive to environmental changes. Scientists get good visuals of the Bay's current condition by looking at both the amount and diversity of zooplankton. They are also food for larger fish in the Bay and Ocean.
Interesting Facts: You usually find zooplankton on the surface of the water and rarely at the depth of 1.3 feet. Also, some types of zooplankton can glow in the dark. The word "plankton" comes from the Greek word "wanderer/wander/wandering". Zooplankton are classified as "animals" mainly because of their size.

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Critter's Common Name: American oyster
Scientific Name:  Crassostrea virginica
Description:
It has two hard, ruff shells that are many different shades of brown. They are 7-12 centimeters long. The top shell is flat while the bottom one has a cup like shape. Inside the shells is a soft body. Its color ranges from a grey, to a tan.
Food Source:
oysters have a number of natural predators, flatworms and mud crabs they feed off of oysters, oysters are "Eilter feeders"
Habitat:
They live in brackish to salty water about 2-11 yards deep. They are often found on oyster bars; a place where many oysters have come and stuck together and created habitats for other organisms, or beds of rocks. They get to the oyster bars by being picked by the current
Niche:
Oysters filter the water. A male oyster can filter up to 190 litters of water.
Competition/Cooperation:
Oysters feed off of plaktin by opening the shells and pumping in water through their gills.

Challenges:  Oysters are prone to infection by parasites. Oysters are also being over harvested and are removing huge volumes of oysters from the habitats .

Symbiotic relationships:
The oyster is in a parasiti
Importance:
If the oysters were to be removed from the bay, the water quality levels would increase, Oysters filter they water
Interesting Facts: Since the late nineteenth century, the oysters industry including catch, sale, and shipping of oysters has made the regions economy millions of dollars.

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Critters Common Name
Blue Crab
Scientific Name
Callinectes Sapidus
How Would You Describe Your Organism
5 Blue back legs on each side. 2 big blue at the bottom in the middle orange at the top claws navy blue white dotted shell
What Does Your Organism Use For A Food Source
Clams,Oysters,Mussels,Smaller crustaceans and smaller soft shell crabs
Where Does Your Organism Live
The Chesapeake Bay
Does The Critter Migrate
Every summer they migrate north in the Chesapeake bay
What Is The Role Of Your Organism In  The community
They are predator pray they are decomposers they are scavengers and they eat mersh periwinkle helps balance the population.
Competition/Cooperation
They eat dead fish and organisms to help regulate population.
Challenges
Predators like large fish like croaks and striped red drum great blue herron sea turtles and over harvesting 49.6 million lbs/year and habitat lost.
Symbiotic Relationships
Blue Crabs have many different symbiotic relationships. Young blue crabs have a relationship with aquatic plants that demonstrates mutualism.
Importance Of Our Critter
Blue Crabs are food to plankton
oysters and other filter feeders food for large fish they eat almost everything.
Other Information
Male blue crabs are called jimmies.The blue crabs scientific name means beautiful and swimmer.

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Critters Common Name: Grass shrimp
Scientific Name: Palaemonetes pugio

Description: Has a segmented, nearly transparent body that is compressed on either side,has serrated horns that extend over the eyes, has two claws on it's first pair of walking legs, can grow to 1.5 inches in length

Food Source: Grass shrimp forage on worms, algae, sea grasses, zooplankton and other tiny crustaceans

Migration: Grass shrimp usually migrate to warmer water during the winter if it is too cold

Habitat: They usually live in shallow waters, often among bay grass beds and grass shrimp may choose to move to warmer water in Winter

Niche: They are a major food source to larger predators, and they break down detritus into tiny particles to smaller organisms have a rich food source.

Competition/Cooperation:grass shrimp compete for a food source including zooplankton, worms, and algae

Challenges:They are affected by small fish like sunfish and kill fish, and crabs.
Also they area affected by low salinity levels in the water.

Symbiotic Relationships: They have a commensalism relationship because they chew up the sea grasses into smaller particles so smaller organisms can eat them
Importance: Because they are so common and they consume algae and sea grasses, Grass shrimp play an important role in the bay's ecology. They are also a major food source for other predators

Interesting Facts: Grass shrimp have five other common names. The "horn" on their heads can be quite sharp and can be used to defend against predators. Also the grass shrimp are not affected by pollutants.

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Critter's Common Name: Underwater Grasses
Scientific Name:  submerged aquatic vegetation
Description: Long thin green leaves and big black bunches of roots
Food Source: sunlight
Habitat: Chesapeake Bay,Streams,Creeks,and Rivers
Critter Migration: none
Niche: shelter to fish,and Blue crabs,and make water clear
Competition/Cooperation: They cooperate with small crustaceans consume harmful algae that might otherwise grow on underwater grasses and stunt their growth.
Challenges: not enough sunlight, over polluted waters
Symbiotic Relationships: cooperation with crabs and fish the animals prevent parasites by eating them
Importance: oxygen, food, shelter, cleaner water
Interesting Facts:  These grasses prevent underwater sand slides and keep sand islands together because they're roots keep it together

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Critter's Common Name:
Sea turtle
Scientific Name:
Chelonioidea
Description:
Yellow, brown, green, or greenish and black depending on the species, around 80 lbs to more than 1,000 lbs, Their bodies are protected by an upper shell called the carapace, 1 pair of eyes, 2 sets of flippers, large upper eyelids, no teeth, no external ear opening, a jaw shape depending on what they eat, 1 or 2 claws on each front flipper.
Food Source:
Omnivores, a turtle may have a diet of sea grasses and algae while most eat horseshoe crabs and other crustaceans. Some eat jellyfish.
Habitat:
Mostly in shallow bays and coastal areas, estuaries, or lagoons. Males never leave the ocean and females only leave to lay eggs.
Niche:
Maintaining healthy sea grass beds and coral reefs providing  habitats for other organisms and balancing marine food webs.
Migrate:
Yes, sea turtles migrates between foraging and nesting grounds, seasonally migrate to warmer waters.
Competition/Cooperation:
Cooperates with the yellow tangs for feeding. The yellow tangs clean off the sea turtles and the sea turtles give yellow tang food. They both end up becoming healthier.
Challenges:
Predators - sharks, killer whales, sea birds, dogs, larger fish, raccoons, crabs, etc. trash pollution can be confused as jelly fish, sharks and humans are also a threat. Animals killing baby sea turtles on nesting sites, and people destroy important nesting sites with building development.
Symbiotic Relationships:
Mutualism - Relationships between yellow tangs and sea turtles.
Importance: Maintains healthy sea grass by grazing, allows corals to grow by ripping away sponges, maintaining a balanced food web by eating jellyfish, and carrying food for other organisms on their bodies.
Other Information:
Oldest known sea turtles fossils date back to about 150 million years ago. Lives up to 70-80 years. Temperature determines the gender of the babies. IF the temperature is warmer most hatchlings are females. IF the temperature is cooler the hatchlings tend to be males.

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Critters's Common Name: Striped Bass.
Scientific Name: Morone Saxatilis
Description: It has blackish stripes. There body colors are olive green, blue, brown and black. They have white bellies. The adult Striped bass weighs about 69 lbs
Food Source: Striped Bass eat small fish and invertebrates, including worms, squids, anchovies and menhaden.
Habitat:  The striped bass lives in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. They are also found in New England and North Carolina.
Migration: Striped Bass  have 2 kinds of migration. The first one is coastal migration. That means they swim North along the coast. The second type is spawning migration. That means they move into fresh water to spawn.
Niche: The striped bass is considered a top predator, and it is very important for fisheries.
Competition/Cooperation: The Striped Bass competes with the Bluefish. They competed with growth rates and resource partitioning.
Challenges: The Striped Bass has a lot of challenges like disease and lack of food. They are also the prey of sharks, larger fish, and fish-eating birds.
Symbiotic Relationships: Commensalism- the striped bass are being over fished.
Importance: It is a very important predator and prey, and it is popular for commercial fisheries and recreational fishing.
Interesting Facts: The Striped Bass life span is 10-30 years. The average length they can grow is 2-3 feet.

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Critter's Common Name:
Phytoplankton
Scientific Name: Microalge
Description: Microscopic organisms such as diatoms and dinoflagellates as well as blue-green algae
Food source: Pytoplankton use sunlight using photosynthesis

Habitat:  It lives in oceans, lakes, rivers most phytoplankton live at the top of the water column.                     Migrations: Phytoplankton move with dial migrations
Niche: They provide food for a wide range of sea creatures.

Competition/cooperation:
They complete zooplankton food sources
Challenges:  Red tides are caused by blooms of phytoplankton with reddish pigments. Waterresource manages worldwide are dealing with red tides.
Symbiotic relations: Phytoplankton have a relationship with bacteria
Importance: They are the base of the food chain. They need light so then enough sunlight can penerate to power it.
Interesting Facts: The phyto plankton play a important role in the global carbon cycle

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Critter's Common Name: Great Blue Heron
Scientific Name: Ardea herodias
Description: The Great Blue Heron has hallow bones, feathery plumes, a long gray/brownish neck, and a spear like bill. It weighs 5 to 6 lbs, 4 ft tall and a wingspan 6-7 ft.
Food Source: mostly fish, but also insects, amphibian, crustaceans, and other small animals
Where does your organism live Habitat: The Great Blue Heron lives in marshes, wetlands, and other bodies of water
Niche: Great Blue Herons control fish and insect populations and are a source of food for their predators
Competition/Cooperation: Great Blue Herons compete with eagles, they compete for food like small fish
Challenges: Ataxia, Emaciation, weakness, and anemia are diseases this bird faces. The predators of this bird are Raccoons, Bears, turkey vultures, and hawks. Ravens and crows are known to eat this bird's eggs.
Symbiotic Relationship: beavers build dams, which collects more water which will attract more fish and then herons have more fish to feed on
Importance: Without this magnificent bird, the fish and insect populations would soar and it's predators may die off or need to find another source of food. This Amazing bird
Interesting Facts: Great Blue Herons spend 90 percent of their waking hours hunting. Great Blu Herons are the largest herons in North America. They are able to hunt in the night just as well as they can in the day

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Critters common name: American shad
Scientific name: Alosa sapidissima
Description: two eyes,thin metallic body,varies in colors,dark colored shoulder,several spots,deeply forked tail fin. the female bass is larger then the male. .
What does your organism use for food sources: It feeds on plankton, crustaceans and small fish
Habitat: It lives in ocean waters,  but spawns in fresh waters,in lakes,streams and rivers.
Does the critter migrate?: Yes. Adults stop feeding once they begin their upstream migration.
Role of organism in community:
The American shad our food for bears,birds,larger fish, stripped bass and the Small mouth bass.
With what other organisms dies your critter compete with or cooperate with?: None
What challenges does your organism face: Animals such as bears,birds,larger fish and stripped bass,these are predators of the American shad.American shad feed on plankton and smaller fish.Adult american bass stop feeding during migration.
Symbolic relationship: They rely on the muscle to protect the eggs but the muscle doesn't get anything in return.
What is the importance of your critter to the bays ecosystem:
american shad lays 100000 to 600000 eggs this is important to the bays ecosystem because if there were no american shad to lay eggs,then many animals that eat american shad would starve or at least lose one food source.
Interesting facts: The American shad is the largest and most well known shad species

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common critter name: Atlantic Menhaden
Scientific name: Brevoortia tyrannus
Description: Silver in the middle, black and grey on the top, black spot near the top behind the gills. small scales, two eyes, one mouth.
food source: Menhaden feeds off of plankton through filtering the water and collecting the phytoplankton and zooplankton.
habitat: The Atlantic Menhaden lives in the Chesapeake bay forming large schools that swim just below the surface.
migration:
The Atlantic menhaden makes seasonal migrations to coastal waters to eat zooplankton and phytoplankton in schools of hundreds or even thousands.
niche: Atlantic menhaden filter pollution out of the water and have an important link in the food chain.
cooperation: Atlantic menhaden can provide shelter for a certain parasite that grows in the fish's mouth. the parasite also feeds off of the blood of the Atlantic menhaden.
challenges: The Atlantic menhaden has many predators such as the striped bass, whale, sharks, bluefish, and many other different types of species which results in the decreasing population of the Atlantic menhaden.
symbolic relationships:
Atlantic menhaden have a symbiotic relationship with a crustacean that is sometimes found in the mouth of an Atlantic menhaden. the parasite feeds off of the menhaden's blood and the food that goes into the fish's mouth.
importance:
Atlantic menhaden are important because they filter bacteria and pollutants out of the water resulting in fresh water.
interesting facts:
The bay is used as a nursery for young menhaden because if the surplus of zooplankton and phytoplanton