Magic in the Marsh
by Lowell Rausch
To appreciate the beauty of the salt marsh we
enjoy here on Kiawah you do not always have to see it,
but just sit back and listen to the enchanting sounds, and
smell the aroma it offers. The marsh with its waving
prairie of spartina grass, its mudflats, and its tidal creeks is
an ever-changing, dynamic environment. Here are some
of those common sounds and smells we experience.
On one of our many breezy days, you can hear
the rustling of the spartina grass (Spartina alternifora). It
dominates the marsh and lives where few other plants can
survive. It has narrow, tough blades and special glands
that secrete excess salt, making it ideal to withstand the
high heat and exposure to salt water. Few animals will eat
it, but some animals do live on it, such as the periwinkle
snail. This snail will crunch up the surface of the grass
blade to make it easier for colonization by fungi, and then
the snail eats the fungi. The plant’s root system grows
horizontally giving rise to new plants that spread rapidly.
As the grasses die and decompose, nutrient byproducts
called detritus are produced and taken out by the tide.
This process fuels marine life organisms, fish, and other
animals in the estuary. Spartina grass acts as a buffer
against storms by absorbing the impacts of the waves and
lessens the damage that can be done. It also slows erosion.
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The tide is truly the lifeblood of the marsh,
bringing its contribution every six hours with each ebb
and flow. The incoming tide nourishes and feeds, while
the outgoing tide transports food and nutrients produced
by the salt marsh to the sea. The tide cycle uncovers
mud that releases a smell like none other in the world. It
is pungent and unmistakably Lowcountry - it is “pluff
mud.” It makes a soft plop as air bubbles escape when
it is submerged by the incoming tide. The waterlogged
sediment is oxygen-poor, and as the bacteria decomposes,
the bottom matter releases hydrogen sulfide, a strong
smelling gas. The odor is strongest when the decay of the
bottom matter is revealed at low tide, or after the marsh
has been disturbed, such as after a rain. Over time, it
becomes a friendly odor that reminds us of home, but
visitors are often heard describing it as a rotten egg smell.
Listen carefully and you may hear the crackle
of fiddler crab (Uca pugnax) feet in the mudflats as a
congregation of them scurries away. The male fiddler crab
has a large reddish front claw and one small one, while
the female and young fiddlers have two small claws. The
large claw looks a bit like a fiddle and the opposite claw
resembles the bow. The male fiddler crab waves its large
claw to attract mates and to wrestle other males to mark its