From the northeast highlands, the land slopes gently south to the Gulf Coast. It also slopes westward to the Mississippi River, which forms Mississippi s western border. Because much of Mississippi is quite low and flat, there is an abundance of swamps, marshes, and bayous. In fact, Mississippi is nicknamed the Bayou State. It is also nicknamed the Mud-cat State for the catfish that are so abundant in its sluggish, muddy streams and swamps.
People even raise catfish in ponds for food.
In the Gulf itself are the barrier islands of Gulf Islands National Seashore, which stretches east into Florida. And beyond these is the sea that once covered so much of Mississippi. It is probably the most complete one of its kind in the world. It is also the first fossil vertebrate from Mississippi that has been completely reconstructed. Nicknamed Ziggy, it can now be seen in the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson.