Salt Marsh
Salt hay and cord grass
Sea stars
Lobster
Hermit crab
Moon snail
Fiddler crab
Anemone
Moon jelly
Sea-lavender and honey bee
Bay scallop
Eelgrass
Rock crabs
Northern diamondback terrapin
Glasswort, or salicornia
Sea robin
Sea lettuce and mussels
Schools of silversides, about 3 inches long, dart through shallow waters feeding on plankton. They in turn are fed upon by other marine life and birds such as gulls and terns.
The Bountiful Sea
The first English settlers who came to the Cape from Plymouth in 1639 were farmers, not fishermen. It took several generations for them to give themselves fully to the life of the sea, though they early saw the potential in it. In fact, even in their farming they quickly took advantage of what the sea had to offer. Alewives were gathered from local streams in spring as a seasonal source of food, as well as fertilizer for their cornfields, a practice taught to them by the Wampanoag Indians. Eelgrass from the flats also provided fertilizer, mulch, insulation for house foundations, and even stuffing for mattresses. Lobsters were so abundant that they were often blown ashore in deep windrows. They were more valued as fertilizer than food in colonial times, and in the 18th century a petition was filed with the General Court on behalf of indentured servants that they “not be fed lobsters more than twice a week”!