Competition/Cooperation: It doesn’t have competition for its sources.
Challenges: Predators, status is 'threatened', to some degree, overharvesting as they get stuck in fishing gear
Symbiotic Relationships: Mutualism.
Importance: Eat sea grasses, control jellyfish and sponge population, as well as transport nutrients to other sea creatures
Interesting Facts: They can live up to 50 years or more. They weigh average of 250 lbs.

Description: black beak, 2 eyes, 2 legs, 2 wings, a white under body, black back, black wings.
Food Source: They can find they're food in the pond because fish are 99% of their appetite
Habitat: Ospreys are found world wide, where ever there are rivers, bays, lakes, or seacoasts.
Migration: Yes. their migration routes following broad swaths of the eastern, interior, and western parts of the U.S
Niche: Ospreys inhabit water ways, ocean shores, and large lakes. They are hunting birds.
Competition/Cooperation: They compete with fisherman for their fish. They also compete with seagulls and turtles.
Challenges: Ospreys face the challenge of nest predators like, raccoons, snakes, owls, and eagles. Ospreys also face diseases like, salmonella, Trichomoniasis, mites, lice and Lyme disease.
Symbiotic relationships: Mutualism- both organisms benefit
Commensalism- one organism benefits and the other is not effected
Parasitism- Osprey and fishy have a parasitism relationship the osprey eats the fish and it benefits. 

Importance: The population of fish will drastically increase with the removal of Ospreys. This will occur because fish is 99% of the Ospreys diet
Interesting Facts: 1) ospreys search for fish flying on steady wing beats and bowed wings or circling in the sky over shallow water
2) ospreys can be found around bodies of water.   

insects, crustaceans,amphibians and small animals 

Habitat: marshes and wetlands,  sometimes found in freshwater lakes and ponds.
Migration: They migrate from Southern Canada to Northern South America during the winter time.
Niche: eaten by larger animals
Competition/Cooperation: They compete with crows,ravens,eagles,raccoons, turkey vultures,when protecting their eggs or food.
Challenges: crows and ravens feed on their eggs, limited nesting areas, bears, vultures, hawks and raccoons hunt them, poor water quality and limited habitats
Symbiotic Relationships: Parasitism when a Great Blue Heron eats a snake. Mutu
Importance: it's predators will have less to eat, it's prey will have less predators
Interesting Facts: They have been known to choke to death.They are able to hunt day and night.They are the largest heron in North America

Critter's Common Name:  American shad

Scientific Name:  Alosa sapidissima
Description: The American shad has a thin metallic body that varies color from greenish to dark blue. The shad has a large dark shoulder spot. Adult shad weigh between 3 pounds (1.4 kg) and 8 pounds (3.6 kg).

Food Source: The American shad eats plankton, crustaceans and other small fish.  As a young fish, it eats zooplankton and other terrestrial insects within its birthplace.
Habitat:  The American Shad lives in the coastal ocean waters, spawning in freshwater rivers and streams. found along Atlantic seaboard from labrador to florida.
Migration:  The American shad stays in its birthplace until adulthood where they stop feeding and migrate upstream to spawn.
Niche:  After hatching young shad feed on zooplankton and insects. In turn larger fish and birds feed on young shad. Adult shad are food source for large fish,birds and bears.
Competition/Cooperation: When migrating, other American shads will compete for the right spot to lay there eggs.
Challenges: Pollution is a big problem in the bay in general and a problem for the shad too. Over fishing and construction of dams that block a migratory  of fish from reaching their spawning grounds.
Symbiotic relationships: As a juvenile, its symbiotic relationship is parasitism.  It feeds on zooplankton and other terrestrial insects without benefiting the prey in return.
Importance: If American Shad would be removed from the Chesapeake Bay, large fish and birds won't have much food because they feed on young shad. But they won't die off because they have other food sources.
Interesting Facts: American shad don't live very long.  They live up to 6 to 10 years. The oldest shad to ever be recorded was a 11 year old.  After laying there eggs, the adults either return to the ocean or die on the spot

Critter's Common Name:
American Oyster
Scientific Name:
Crassostrea Virginica
 Description:
Brownish, white grayish, 3-5 inches in size, 2 rough shells
Food Source:
Plankton, filter feeders (they eat all the bacteria) 
Habitat:
The American Oyster lives in the Chesapeake Bay. They can live in fresh or salt water.
Migration:
Yes and no, when they are in the egg and larvae they have 3 weeks as free swimming plankton and then they stay put where ever they fine land
Niche:
American oysters are filter feeders so they filter the water so it stays clean
Competition/Cooperation:
The American Oyster competes with other filter feeders such as snails and menhaden. They eat plankton and other food particles from the water.
Challenges:
They get over harvested in the Chesapeake Bay, The american Oyster get this disease called Dermo that kills them. They are losing their habitat to new urban land.
Symbiotic Relationships:
Mutualism- filter eaters: American oysters are filter feeders which means they get food by pumping water through their gills and trapping nutrients and food.
Importance:
Without the american oyster we would have dirty water plant wise. They were filter feeders and helped keep their ecosystems clean.
Interesting Facts:
1. The american oyster can filter 1.3 gallons of water per hour 
2. They live anywhere for 6-20 years
3. Most American Oysters are the same species ( From the Gulf of Mexico to the Chesapeake Bay and then to the coast of Virginia.)

Callinectes sapidus

Description:
Their shells are a bluish-olive green color, they have nine teeth, 3 pairs of legs, can reach up to 9 inches long, and they have blue claws.
Food Source:
Blue Crabs eat clams, oysters, mussels, smaller crustaceans, dead fish, and smaller soft-shelled blue crabs.
Habitat:
They live in the Nova Scotia to Argentina in the western Atlantic Ocean. Male blue crabs live in fresher waters while females tend to live in saltier waters.
Migration:
Blue crabs migrate north to the Chesapeake Bay every summer.
Niche:
 They are opportunistic feeders, or scavengers. They feed on dead stuff that settle in the bottom of the ocean.
Competition/Cooperation:
Irregular weather patterns and pollution affect the loss of underwater grass beds, in which blue crabs use as nurseries and feeding grounds.
Challenges:
Croakers and Red Drums, Great Blue Herons, and sea turtles are some predators of the blue crab. Habitat loss and harvest pressure have caused the blue crab population to decrease.
Symbiotic Relationships:
The symbiotic relationship between a blue crab and a marsh periwinkle is mutualism. The blue crabs eat the marsh periwinkles, so their population will stay steady.
Importance:
Blue crabs are a type of keystone species. Striped Bass rely on blue crabs for food. Blue crab larvae are apart of the plank-tonic communities, and filter feeders such as oysters depend on them as a source of food.
Interesting Facts:
They are chief consumers called "benthos."

 Competition/Cooperation: Widgeon grass competes with Algae when algae over populates and covers the surface of the water and blocks the sun light

Challenges: Widgeon grasses  dominate predator is Waterfowl.  It is sensitive to water quality and weather

Symbiotic Relationships: Water Quality
Importance: If we took away widgeon grass which is one of the dominate under water grasses in the Chesapeake bay. Then there would be less oxygen in the water for the under water creatures to breath and some of them would die which in turn would make the carbon dioxide decrease making more plants die and so on.
Interesting facts: It does not only grow under water it also grows in diches

Oxyura Jamaicensis

Description:
Ruddy Duck males are different in color and size than females. They have chestnut colored bodies, while the females are just a brown color. Males have white cheeks, dark brown caps and tails, and a bright blue beak. Males are larger that females in size, and wingspan.
Food Source:
Ruddy Ducks are omnivores, they eat mostly bay grasses, insects, mollusks, and crustaceans.
Habitat:
They are native to North and South America, living in the Chesapeake Bay in shallow waters. They are also found in freshwater ponds and lakes.
Migration:
Ruddy Ducks migrate within medium to large size flocks at night to their summer feeding grounds. They migrate very close to water level.
Niche:
 Ruddy Ducks are second level consumers, they eat midge, larvae, and crustaceans. They also eat plants. They are eaten by raccoons, mink, American Crows, Red- Tailed Hawks, and Great Horned Owls.
Competition/Cooperation:
Ruddy Ducks compete with White-Headed ducks for nesting sites and for food.
Challenges:
Predators like raccoons, mink, American Crows, Black Crowned Night Herons and Ring Billed Gulls eat Ruddy Duck eggs and nestlings. Adults are hunted by Red- Tailed Hawks, Great Horned Owls, red foxes, and mink. They also are hunted legally by North America and Europe.  

Symbiotic Relationships:
Ruddy Ducks have a parasitism relationship with parasites, and tapeworms. They are used as a host to them. The parasites and tapeworms benefit while the Ducks are negatively impacted.
Importance:
Ruddy Ducks are omnivores, second level consumers, so if they were to be removed then the carnivores, third level consumers, would have nothing to eat and die off. Also, the herbivores, primary consumers, would have nothing eating them so they would over populate.
Interesting Facts:
-Ruddy Ducks are one of the smallest ducks found in the Chesapeake Bay, but lay some of the largest eggs in the world!
-when alarmed they dive underwater rather than flying away
-Ruddy ducks are excellent swimmers but are very clumsy on land