Long Island Sound

There is no better way to escape the heat that comes with the summer season and refresh yourself than a visit to the beach. For young kids the long island sound is the perfect spot to relax with their family and friends. The Long Island sound is an Estuary found in the United States of America. An Estuary is a water body where fresh water and salt water mix.

Interesting facts about the Long Island sound

Here are some fun facts about the Long Island sound you might not know about.

• History:
  The Long Island sound was formed over 800,000 years ago. The Long Island sound wasn’t always an estuary, it originally only contained fresh water. Then about 8000 years ago ice that used to keep sea water away failed and salt water from the Atlantic Ocean began to flow into the lake’s fresh water. The first person to discover the Long Island sound was a Dutch navigator named Adriaen Block.
• Location:
  The Long Island sound is surrounded by four cities, to the north side is Connecticut, to the south by the Long Island, to the west it is boarded by the Western County and Bronx county, New York City lying to the east side of the lake.
• Size:
  The Long Island is reported to be about 110 miles long from east to west of the lake and about 21 miles wide, giving it a total surface area of about
• Depth:
  The lake has a shallow depth of 60 feet and an average depth of 65 feet parts of the lake could go as far deep as 230 feet.
• Water in the Long Island Sound:
  Being an Estuary the Long Island sound’s water is an mix of freshwater and salt water. As earlier said the freshwater of the lake is gotten from the Atlantic Ocean, while the freshwater in the lake mostly comes from three rivers. These rivers are the Thames, the Housatonic and the Connecticut.
  It has been estimated that the Long Island sound contains over 67 billion tons of water.
• Flora:
  Flora is a word used to describe the plant life that naturally occur in a particular place or time. The Long Island sound is home to a large flora system which include seaweeds such as Monostroma, Gingellia, Focus, condrus, etc. Other plants found include cordgrass, sea lavender, bayberry, sea rocket, hazelnut, poison Ivy, bitter sweet etc. The sound is also a great place to spot trees like the white oak, black oak, black cherry, pigment hickory etc.
• Fauna:
  Fauna is the opposite of flora meaning it is used in describing the animal life found in a particular place or time.
  Fish are abundant in the sound ranging from marine fish like porgy, butter fish, blue fish, smooth dogfish to mollusks such as salt marsh snail, rough periwinkle, the blue mussel and the hard clam.
  Crustateans are also abundant in the sound such as Red crab, Eastern oysters, soft shell clams, grass shrimps and American lobster which is a favorite during fishing trips.
  Other animals you would see when you visit the sound include sparrows, ducks egrets, swans, painted turtle, water snake, toads, harbour seals shrews and even raccoons.
• Amazing life form:
  All life forms are amazing in their own way but the red beard sponge sets itself apart.
  What’s amazing about this sponge is that if strained through tiny mesh-like material such as a cheesecloth and it breaks down into little pieces. It has the ability to reorganise itself back into its original form, just like Sand man from the Spiderman movies.
• Endangered species:
  Endangered species on the sound include the Eastern spadfoot, a beige coloured toad, the shornose sturgeon and the Diamondback terrapin.
• Recreational:
  Long has the largest recreational fleet in the whole North America, with over 500,000 registered boats. This is due to the fact that it is one of the few salt water sea with waves withhout high winds, making it ideal for boat sailing.