Heavy rains cause stormwater runoff into the Bay. The stormwater usually carries pollutants which end up, directly or indirectly, in the bay. Some of the pollutants can accumulate in the tissue of the oysters. If we eat the contaminated oysters, we can become sick. That is why the Alabama Department of Public Health keeps a close watch on water quality near the productive oyster reefs.
Reefs form in the open bay, as well as along the edges of saltmarshes.
They are particularly abundant along the side slopes of navigation channels where tidal currents are consistent. The reef itself is three-dimensional to the extent that the shells cemented together create an irregular surface that establishes a myriad of microhabitats for smaller species.