The Chesapeake is home to more than 3,000 species of plants and animals, including 348 species of finfish, 173 species of shellfish, and roughly 30 species of waterfowl, along with local birds, such as the osprey. Discover some of the rich, extraordinary wildlife that make this place so special.
Some of the most iconic Bay species—and perhaps the most important to the region's recreation, economy, and way of life—include the blue crab, Eastern oyster, striped bass (also known as rockfish or striper), and Atlantic menhaden.
Discover more of the diverse and extraordinary wildlife that make this a place so special by browsing through our blog posts below, listening to our seasonal naturalist podcast, Chesapeake Almanac, or checking in on our Osprey Cam from late spring through early fall.
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Why Is the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Population Crashing?
May 28, 2025
Blue crab numbers have reached the second-lowest level in 35 years. Here’s what we know, and what we don’t.
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Baltimore Harbor Oyster Sanctuary Now Accepting New Tenants
May 16, 2025
Throughout the decade, students from the Baltimore Lab School have grown approximately 70,295 oysters in the Baltimore Harbor. That number includes over 11,500 oysters the kids planted one day in May.
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Upcoming Menhaden Management Meeting
May 1, 2025
A special Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) workgroup has completed a special report on the connection between osprey nest failures and falling menhaden harvests. What action will the Commission decide to take at its upcoming meeting?
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Menhaden Study Delay Leaves Important Questions Unanswered
April 23, 2025
We need more science to get to the heart of the connection between menhaden and catastrophic failure for nesting osprey. But for the second consecutive year, the Virginia legislature failed to fund the critically needed menhaden study.
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Harnessing the "Little Bivalve" to Produce Big Results for the Bay
April 11, 2025
Federal investment in large-scale oyster restoration in the Bay's rivers provides support for community efforts and is reaping benefits downstream.
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Virginia Leaves Critically Needed Menhaden Study Plan Unfunded
March 20, 2025
For the second year in a row, after pressure from Omega Protein lobbyists, Virginia refuses to fund a critical study about menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay. Why?
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Endangered Species Listing for Hellbender Is Long Overdue
January 28, 2025
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed listing the Eastern hellbender as an Endangered species. A group of determined young people in Pennsylvania, the original “Hellbender Defenders,” say the recognition is long overdue.
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Megalodon Teeth and the Ancient Chesapeake Bay: An Interview with Dr. Stephen Godfrey
November 15, 2024
The Curator of Paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland talks with us about the marvelous stories fossils tell, what the Chesapeake region’s ancient past can teach us about its future, and the secrets yet to be discovered at Calvert Cliffs.
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A Blue Crab Mystery
October 17, 2024
The population isn’t crashing, but it isn’t exactly thriving either. What’s going on?
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Everybody’s Fish: Striped Bass on the Move
July 5, 2024
Their impressive annual migrations from estuarine nurseries to summer ocean feeding grounds make striped bass a cultural icon along the Atlantic Coast. But with populations struggling, the fish need many helping hands along the way.
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The Osprey Garden: A Chesapeake Eden at Risk
June 25, 2024
In the 1960s and ’70s, osprey almost entirely disappeared from the Bay region. The reason? The harmful insecticide DDT. After the chemical was banned, the Bay's osprey population rebounded. But today, in one portion of the Bay, osprey have plummeted to even lower levels.
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Blue Catfish Conundrum
June 21, 2024
While invasive blue catfish continue to eat the Chesapeake Bay alive, the voracious predators are being released and welcomed into parts of Pennsylvania, where they are native.
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To Thrive in the Chesapeake Bay, Striped Bass Need a Summer Vacation
June 20, 2024
The hot days of summer are when striped bass are most vulnerable. With the right steps now, we can rebuild a healthy striped bass fishery for the future. Anglers, find out what you can do this summer to give striped bass a boost.
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Bonjour Blue Crabs: Low in Chesapeake, On the Rise Elsewhere
June 14, 2024
While the recent blue crab survey showed numbers remain low for blue crabs in the Chesapeake, this iconic Bay species is showing up in wildly unexpected places across the globe, including France, Croatia, and Maine.
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An Uncertain Nursery
May 13, 2024
The Chesapeake Bay is a famed spawning ground for Atlantic striped bass. But changeable—and changing—conditions are likely contributing to the species’ troubles.
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Shaped by a Salamander
April 23, 2024
Five years after their triumphant campaign to crown the Eastern hellbender as Pennsylvania’s state amphibian, former CBF student leaders are taking on the world of conservation, education, and law.
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Many Questions Remain for Blue Crab Outlook
March 22, 2023
The season for catching Chesapeake Bay blue crabs is already underway in Virginia, and recreational crabbing will officially kick off in Maryland on April 1. Several boats have been plying the waters the past several months, however, to pursue the crustaceans not for steaming but for science.
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A Trout’s Journey: Behind the Scenes of Pennsylvania’s Fish Hatcheries
March 16, 2023
Getting 3.2 million hatchery-raised trout into waterways, as well as sustaining wild trout populations, is a critical part of the worldclass fishing for which Pennsylvania’s mountain streams are renowned. Both require good water, and lots of it.
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Fisheries Win in Virginia’s Legislative Session
March 9, 2023
Last month, Virginia wrapped up its legislative session and with it came big wins for the Chesapeake Bay’s fisheries. Read more about the strides made to control blue catfish and protect oysters, blue crabs, and menhaden.
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A Symbol for Pennsylvania
May 16, 2022
The largest salamanders in North America were plentiful in the Bay watershed decades ago. Today, with their populations teetering and habitat facing multiple threats, the Eastern hellbender is still as charismatic and ugly a critter as ever.
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Five Facts You Didn’t Know About Beavers
April 7, 2022
These toothy, big-tailed creatures are some of the Chesapeake’s best Bay savers.
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Forest Fish
March 9, 2022
CBF's Brian Gish has a plan to restore habitat for brook trout in Pennsylvania.
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Resilient Return
March 2, 2022
Resurgence of Atlantic sturgeon in the Chesapeake Bay is reason to continue pollution-reduction efforts.
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Charismatic Creatures
January 26, 2022
A Pennsylvania farm owner steps up to protect bog turtles on his land.
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Miniature Marvels
January 12, 2022
Lined seahorses rely on the Bay's underwater grass beds for food, shelter, and a place to breed.
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Winter Leviathan
January 6, 2022
Known for their acrobatics, humpback whales sometimes venture into the Chesapeake to feed.
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Unexpected Visitor Spotted in C&O Canal in Montgomery County
September 22, 2021
The tropical Wood Stork is rarely seen in Maryland, but could have been blown north by Hurricane Ida.
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Five Facts You Otter Know
September 20, 2021
While we love to see them, otter sightings can be rare depending on your location in the watershed. But when you do see them, here are five interesting facts you should know about the North American river otter.
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Four Surprising Facts About Chesapeake Jellyfish
August 17, 2021
Admit it—it wouldn’t be a Chesapeake summer without sea nettles. From where to watch for nettles to treating their irritating stings, here are four things to know about jellyfish.
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Freshwater Mussels: Wild, Wonderful, and Waning
August 16, 2021
Carolina Slabshells, Tidewater Muckets, Green Floaters—an amazing diversity of freshwater mussels call the rivers and streams of the Bay watershed home. But we’re losing species faster than we can understand them.
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Sharks: From Miocene to Modern Day
July 14, 2021
We’ve all heard about sharks in the Bay, but did you know that these apex predators have actually been living here long before us humans ever showed up?
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Herons in Harrisburg
July 2, 2021
Endangered Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are finding unexpected refuge in urban neighborhoods.
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Are There Sharks in the Chesapeake Bay?
August 11, 2020
Swimming and boating are two of the best activities to beat the summer heat, but could sharks be lurking just below the surface?
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Oysters: How Are They Doing?
August 5, 2020
Oysters are one of the watershed's favorite bivalves. But how are they doing?
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Blue Crabs: How Are They Doing?
August 3, 2020
Blue crabs are known far and wide as a symbol of the Chesapeake Bay region. But how are they doing?
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Sharks in the Bay?!
August 14, 2018
A shark catch in southern Maryland waters has launched a flurry of questions across the region. CBF's Doug Myers tells us what we need to know.
