WILDLIFE

Puget Sound's wildlife are fishes, birds, invertebrates, marine mammals, plankton and seagrasses

The abundant fertility of Puget Sound offers over 200 species of marine fish, over 600 types of sea grasses, over 200 different kinds of sea birds, about 26 species of marine mammals, and over 3,000 species of known invertebrates.

		Marine Mammals From the great gray whales feeding in Puget Sound during their annual migration to the Southern resident orca whale pods J, K, and L, Puget Sound is a sanctuary for marine mammals.
		Marine Fishes Puget Sound is home to five species of salmon, baitfish like herring and surf smelt, and long-lived species of rockfish.
		Sea Birds Different habitats of Puget Sound are home to different species of birds: surf scoters on the nearshore waters, great blue herons on the mudflats, and bald eagles on shoreline tree crags.
		Sea Grasses It's a jungle out there with herring spawning on eelgrass near the shore and bull kelp sending slender limbs to the surface where fronds form dense canopies.
		Invertebrates There are 3,000 known invertebrates and we're still counting: clams, oysters, octopuses, moon snails, and nudebranches, to name a few.
		Plankton These small plants and animals drifting on water currents are the base of the Sound's food chain and its web of life