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Special Features:
Spotlight on Estuaries of National Significance

Barataria-Terrebonne Estuaries

- Compiled and written by Paul C. Focazio

Feature Creature

Brown Pelican: Louisiana's State Bird

Brown Pelican"A wonderful bird is the pelican, his bill can hold more than his belly can…" So begins a well known limerick by Dixon Lanier Merritt that is not far from the truth. The pouch, suspended from the lower half of the pelican's long, straight bill really can hold up to three times more than the stomach.

At 42 to 54 inches long, weighing 8 to 10 pounds, and with a 6 ½ to 7 ½ foot wingspan, the Louisiana State bird is the smallest member of the pelican family and one of seven species of pelican worldwide. Only the brown pelican and white pelican call Louisiana home. Easily distinguishable from one another, the brown pelican is just that - brown. The white pelican is white except for the black tips on the wing.

Brown pelicans are primarily fish eaters and usually consume up to 4 pounds of fish a day. Their diet consists mainly of "rough" fish - species considered unimportant recreationally, including menhaden, herring, sheepshead, pigfish, mullet, grass minnows, top minnows, and silversides.

Brown pelicans have few natural enemies. The biggest threat to pelican survival comes from humans, although ground nests are sometimes destroyed by hurricanes, flooding, or other natural disasters. Human impact on the Louisiana State bird in the 20th century was dramatic. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pelicans were hunted for their feathers, which adorned women's clothing, particularly hats. During food shortages following World War I, fishermen claimed pelicans were decimating the commercial fishery resource and slaughtered them by the thousands. With the advent and widespread use of pesticides such as DDT in the mid 1900s, pelican populations plummeted because of lack of breeding success; eating DDT contaminated fish caused the pelicans to lay eggs with thin shells that would break during incubation.

It was thought that DDT caused the local extinction of brown pelicans in Louisiana in 1963. With the banning of DDT in 1972 and tight restrictions on use of other pesticides and the reintroduction efforts of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries between 1968 and 1980, the brown pelican has had an opportunity to again fly over the open waters and marshes of Barataria-Terrebonne. Recent estimates suggest that 159,095 young brown pelicans hatched between 1971 and 2000. Today, Louisiana's brown pelicans occur throughout their historic range and the reintroduction program is one of many success stories in Louisiana's conservation efforts.

For more information:
See the related "Focus Topic Fact Sheet" | PDF

Other key species in the estuary include ...

Blue Crab

Blue crabsThe blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is one of the most abundant crustaceans in coastal Louisiana. This species is very important in the estuarine food chain, and is a key recreational and commercial species in the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuarine System. The population in the estuary appears to be healthy, though there may be a downward trend as salinities and saltwater predators increase.

Red Drum

Red drumWhile the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuarine System supports over 200 species of finfish, red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), or redfish, is one of the most abundant and popular recreational species. It is a fast-growing fish that remains in estuaries until about four years of age, making the fishery completely dependent on a healthy estuary. Red drum can live up to 35 or more years, making it one of the more long-lived estuarine-dependent species.


Spotted seatrout (Speckled trout)

Spotted seatrout, or "speckled trout," (Cynoscion nebulosus) are the most sought after fish along Louisiana's coast, with nearly 70% of anglers surveyed saying that "specks" were their favorite fish to catch. Because they strike aggressively, thrash at the surface, occasionally jump, and are able to make short runs on light tackle, it's no wonder that this species is considered the most sought after by coastal anglers.

Being carnivorous, this predatory fish consumes smaller invertebrates, crustaceans, and small fishes while larger individuals often forage on larger croaker, menhaden, shrimp, and mullet. Spotted seatroutThe life span of specks is about 7-8 years, with most becoming sexually mature at 1 year of age. While most people are familiar with the spring spawns, specks can spawn every 5 days from April through September. These fish seek out optimum salinity and temperature to begin spawning, meaning they usually spawn near the barrier islands in late May.

After spawning occurs, the eggs float and newly-hatched larvae are normally carried into coastal marshes - estuaries - by tidal action where they begin the first stages of their life. The coastal marshes of Louisiana are extremely important to the continued production and success of this species as well as a myriad of other estuarine dependent species.

Specks are not migratory in nature and rarely exceed a distance of 30 miles from where they hatch. Many specks move into the lower-salinity upper estuaries to forage during the fall and winter. During spring and summer, these fish seek the higher salinity waters of the coastal bays, passes, and barrier islands to spawn.

Speck facts:

  • The average speck is less than 2 pounds
  • They occasionally reach 10 pounds and can be greater than 30 long.
  • Louisiana State record is 12.38 pounds - caught in 1950.
  • World record is 16 pounds - caught in Virginia in 1977.


Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle

The Kemp's Ridley is one of the smallest sea turtles, with adults reaching about 2 feet in length and weighing up to 100 pounds. The adults are oval in shape and are usually olive-gray in color while hatchlings are black on both sides. The Kemp's Ridley is a shallow water bottom feeder with a diet consisting mainly of crabs. While only one of five sea turtles found in the Gulf of Mexico region, it is the most seriously endangered of all sea turtles.

Numbers of Kemp's Ridley sea turtles have precipitously declined since 1947, when over 40,000 nesting females were estimated in a single arribada - a massive swarm of nesting females. Nesting populations of Kemp Ridley's experienced a low of 702 nests in 1985 due in part to overharvest and incidental catch; however, since the mid-1980's, the numbers of nests laid in sea turtlea season has been steadily increasing. During the 1999 and 2000 nesting seasons, more than 3,600 nests and 6,000 nests, respectively, were deposited on Mexico beaches.

Nesting of Kemp's Ridley occurs from April to June during which time the turtles appear off the Tamaulipas and Veracruz coasts of Mexico and to a lesser extent along the Padre Island National Seashore of Texas. Some females breed annually and nest an average of 1 to 4 times in a season with clutch sizes averaging 110 eggs. Hatchlings, after leaving the nesting beach, are believed to become entrained in eddies within the Gulf of Mexico where they are dispersed within the gulf and Atlantic Ocean by oceanic surface currents until they reach a larger size, at which time they enter coastal shallow water habitats.

Outside of nesting, the major habitat for Kemp's Ridley turtles is the nearshore and inshore waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana waters are especially important for migrating turtles where they can be found in salt marsh habitats and near barrier island shores.

In 1978, the United States and Mexico joined efforts to prevent the extinction of the Kemp's Ridley. Recent nesting increases are primarily due to nest protection efforts and implementation of regulations requiring the use of turtle excluder devices in commercial fishing trawls both in the United States and Mexico. Expanding the number of turtle protection camps has allowed for increased nest protection by preventing the direct harvest of adults and eggs. Due to these efforts the Kemp's Ridley appears to be in the early stages of recovery.