North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve, South Carolina

North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve, South Carolina

Fauna (Animal Life)

The North Inlet-Winyah Bay area is home to hundreds of species of animals in a variety of habitats including upland and maritime forests, salt marshes, tidal creeks, and the fresh and brackish (a mix of fresh and salt) waters of abandoned rice fields and the Winyah Bay estuary. A long-term monitoring program provides regular information on the abundance, biomass, and sizes of hundreds of species of fish, crabs, and shrimp and includes sampling of the various life stages of many of these animals.

Some of the common resident species in the creeks throughout the year include smaller fish like mummichogs, killifish, sheepshead minnows, blennies, gobies, and silversides. Transient species that move in and out of the estuary include spot, pinfish, menhaden, flounder, white and striped mullet, and red drum (the official mascot of the North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve). Other researchers are also studying the area’s larger aquatic species such as the bottlenose dolphin and several kinds of sharks, but much smaller animals in the waters and sediments of the estuary are sampled and studied as well. Larval stages of invertebrates including oysters, clams, crabs, & shrimp, and larval fishes make up a large percentage of the zooplankton samples, especially in the summer.

More common animals of the salt marsh include birds such as the great blue heron, osprey, brown pelican, clapper rail, oystercatchers, and white ibis. The diamondbacked terrapin and Federally endangered loggerhead sea turtle are frequently seen during warmer months. Crabs abound here too and include fiddler crabs, hermit crabs, blue crabs, mud crabs, and square-backed crabs. Common marsh snails such as periwinkles, coffee bean snails, and mud snails feed on detritus and are a food source for the larger animals in the marsh. Oysters and clams are conspicuous filter feeders that also reside in the tidal creeks. The abundance of marsh plants and the expanses of Spartina (salt marsh cordgrass) provide a habitat for hundreds of insects as well.

The Winyah Bay fauna differs somewhat from the North Inlet fauna. A gradual change in salinity from the ocean to the rivers provides a greater diversity of habitats than can be found in the high salinity North Inlet system. Primary differences are seen in the upper reaches of Winyah Bay where brackish conditions support dozens of species that do not occur in the lower portions of the bay. Longnose gar, striped bass, several catfishes and various sunfishes occur only in the tidal freshwater and brackish areas. Seasonal changes in the abundance and biodiversity of the assemblages are large, but both North Inlet and Winyah Bay are very active biologically all year.

While the Reserve’s research focuses primarily on the estuary, the uplands and forests near the Reserve provide a home to many terrestrial species including numerous mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects. Some of the mammals include bobcat, white-tailed deer, wild (feral) pig, gray and red foxes, raccoon, opossum, rabbits, beaver, river otter, and gray, fox, and flying squirrels. Birds are almost too numerous to mention, but include threatened and endangered species such as the bald eagle and the red cockaded woodpecker, as well as wild turkeys, ducks, and several species of owls and hawks. Frogs, toads, salamanders, venomous and non-venomous snakes, and alligators also reside in freshwater creeks, swamps, and other low-lying swampy areas on the property.