Mobile Bay 

Activity Book
Coastal Alabama and Mobile 

Bay: Did you know???

• Mobile Bay has both salt water from the Gulf of Mexico and fresh 

water from rivers. This body of water where fresh and salty water mix 

is called an estuary. Many fish, shrimp, and crabs live here. 

• The delta is a beautiful place where rivers enter Mobile Bay and flow 

through marshes, swamps, and bottomland hardwood forests. 

• Alabama has a relatively small coastline consisting of approximately 

50 miles of beach, but has the fourth largest river system by volume in 

the United States, an average of 460,000 gallons per second, or 42 

billion gallons per day. 

• The first people to live around Mobile Bay were Native Americans. 

The Spanish visited in the early 1500's and named it Bay of the Holy 

Spirit.

• The famous Battle of Mobile Bay, one of the last major battles of the 

Civil War, was fought in August of 1864. 

• The Mobile Bay estuarine system is located in the center of the 

northern edge of the Gulf of Mexico and is protected by the long 

peninsula of Fort Morgan on the east and to the west by Dauphin 

Island. 

• Mobile Bay is approximately 31 miles long with the widest point 

being about 24 miles across, and the average depth is only 10 feet. A 

man-made ship channel, 45 feet deep, has been in operation since the 

1800's, creating an international seaport for ocean going vessels. 

• The white sandy beach of coastal Alabama has the consistency of fine 

sugar and is made of quartz derived from the erosion of the southern 

end of the Appalachian Mountains. 
Color Me! 

Brown pelicans have special air sacs 

in their chest area that cushion them 

as they dive into the water from as 

high as 12-14 feet. 
Connect the dots to find a 

common shore bird. 
Color Us! 

Bottlenose 

dolphins are found throughout the 

Mobile Bay area. This dolphin is the 

type most frequently seen in 

captivity.
Can you help this Octopus 

find its cave? 

The common Atlantic octopus is found throughout 

the Gulf of Mexico. They are a highlight for visitors 

to the Dauphin Island Estuarium. 
Hermit crabs have no shells of 

their own, so they use the empty 

shells of snails as their homes. They

move into larger shells as they grow. 
WHICH TWO ARE THE SAME? 
Can you help the pelican find its dinner of fish? 
There are seven different types of sea 

turtles, all are either endangered or 

threatened. You might find 

Loggerheads or Kemp9s Ridleys in 

Mobile Bay. 
Color Us! 

Common eastern oysters can be found 

on pilings, or attached to each other, 

forming reefs. Ribbed mussels are 

found in salt marshes, just under the 
Elzdgch she Fish 

Draw a line from half a fish on the left to the other half on the right to see 

what Stingrays, Anchovies, Red Snappers, and Flounders look like. 
Color me1 

Sunlight provides energy for all these living things. 

Producers (such as tiny plants called phytoplankton) 

absorb the sun's energy and use nutrients from the 

environment. Consumers (such as sharks, fish, birds) eat 

plants or other animals. Recyclers (such as crabs) eat 

dead things and turn them into nutrients. 
IVoblle Bay "mad Lib" 

Directions: Fill in the mad lib list, then copy your mad libs into the blanks in 

the story below. Once you have filled in all the blanks, read your completed 

story for a fun look at how animals and habitats depend on each other for 

suwival. 

Mad Lib List: 

I. Family member 

2. Somebody's name 

3. Animal 

4. Color 

5. Animal 

6. Things 

7. Animal 

I was swimming down Mobile Bay one autumn day with 

my and our friend , who 

1 2 

is a very early in morning. A large 

3 

started to chase us. I think he 

4 5 

wanted to eat us for breakfast! We ran quickly to get away from 

it and hid in some that were along the shore 

b 

of the Bay. We sure were lucky they were there so we could get 

away. We found some while we where 

7. 

there that we ate for lunch. 
Fiddler crabs burrow into the mud 

of salt marshes. Males have one claw 

larger than the other. The crab eats 

with the smaller claw, while the 

larger claw is used to threaten or 

fight with other males. 
C~M you Gind Ghftse i8euns i~ 8he 

pieSzcre? 

Tire 

Fishing Rod 

Shovel 

Comb 

Bottle 

Umbrella 

Boot 
Words are found down, across, and diagonally 

Management 

Conservation 

Dauphin Island 

Alabama 

Hermit crab 

Sea star 

Sea turtle 

Dolphin 

Sand 

Octopus 

Shrimp 

Pelican 

Oyster 

Red snapper 

Catfish 

B arnacle 

Tide 

Crab 
It’s a Jubilee! 

A Jubilee is a regular occurrence along the eastern 

shore of Mobile Bay. Jubilees occur only in the 

summer months, usually in the early morning just 

before sunrise. Under specific conditions, 

upwelling of oxygen-poor bottom water forces 

bottom fish and crustaceans ashore. Hundreds of 

flounder and tubs of crabs can be caught in just a 

few hours. 
Marine Debris 

Draw a line from the type of debris (trash) to the time it 

takes to decompose (go away) in the marine 

environment. 

plastic bottle 

200 years 

apple core 

400 years 

1 million years 

plastic 6-pack rings 

450 years 

waxed milk carton 

3 months 

aluminum cans 

2 months 

glass bottles & jars 
Color Me! 

The beaches, rocky shores, marshes, coastal 

and open oceans are homes to many different 

plants and animals. Be polite and do not mess 

up their homes. Take your trash back to your 

home, just leave footprints in theirs. 

More Answers 

Which two are the same? 

1 & 3 

Regional Activity Books series: 

1. Chesapeake Bay Activity Book – http://www.nccos.noaa.gov/education/cbbook

2. Coastal North Carolina Activity Book – 

http://www.coastalscience.noaa.gov/education/ncbook.pdf

3. Salish Sea Activity Book – http://www.coastalscience.noaa.gov/education/ssbook.pdf

4. Why Is Hawaii’s Ocean Important: A Keiki Activity Book – 

http://www.coastalscience.noaa.gov/education/hibook.pdf

5. Coastal Louisiana Activity Book – 

http://www.coastalscience.noaa.gov/education/labook.pdf

Copies of this material can be downloaded from: 

http://www.coastalscience.noaa.gov/education/mbbook.pdf

 Produced by: 

 Dr. Susan Baker, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science 

 Jenny Cook, Dauphin Island Sea Lab 

 Dr. John Dindo, Dauphin Island Sea Lab 

May 2005