151 



covered 50% of the bottom, there still may be 35 ha of unmapped eelgrass 

 vegetation in this area. Similarly, eelgrass may grow on the rocky 

 platform north of Scraggy Neck, but is not indicated on the map. 



Megansett Harbor is a shallow, high energy embayment , with sandy 

 sediment and abundant eelgrass. Typical of this type of environment, 

 eelgrass beds contain considerable bare patches where eelgrass was 

 removed by storms or wave scour. Many of these beds also have distinct 

 banding appearance because much of the habitat is too shallow, and 

 eelgrass can survive only in the troughs of sand waves. 



The periphery of this harbor has a gradual slope, but the 

 bathymetry drops off sharply near the center of the bay. Eelgrass grows 

 to 5.4 m here and bed FAMH26 fills all but the center of this basin. 

 Potentially, some of this apparent "growth" is drift material, but this 

 depth is consistent with maximum vegetation depth southwest of Scraggy 

 Neck and east of Great Sippiwisett Marsh (Fig 18) . Some of these deep 

 beds probably contain considerable algae covered rock fields, and the 

 maximum depth of growth of these beds needs further study. 



Eelgrass is distinct on the sand bars surrounding the south end of 

 Stony Point Dike. The Squeteague Harbor beds probably contain sizable 

 amount of drift algae or Ruppia. The broad southern lobe of the canal 

 ebb delta covers 120 ha at 2.4-3.3 m MLW 500 m north of Wings Neck. The 

 shallow part of the delta is covered with eelgrass (also Figure 18) , but 

 it is unclear if this deeper lobe is vegetated. 



