Moriches Bay a lagoon system on the south shore

South Shore

South Shore may refer to:In Canada:*South Shore , Quebec, the region of the greater Montreal area on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River*South Shore , geographic region of Nova Scotia*South Shore—St...

 of Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck.

Two Townships both Brookhaven and the Southampton share Its shoreline in Suffolk New York.

Moriches Bay is east of the Mastic narrows and Great South Bay

Great South Bay

Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is approximately long. It's protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island and Captree Island.Robert Moses Causeway adjoins...

 and west of Shinnecock Bay. The bay is 62 miles (99.8 km) east of New York City.

Moriches Bay has a body of water of 3,836-hectare - 9480 acres (38.4 km²) of aquatic

Aquatic ecosystem

An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem in a body of water. Communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment live in aquatic ecosystems. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems....

 environment.

This includes Moneybogue Bay and Quantuck Bay, its salt marshes, dredged material islands, and intertidal flats.

This body of water is between the Outer barrier

Outer barrier

The outer barrier, also known as the Long Island and New York City barrier islands, refers to the string of barrier islands that divide the lagoons south of Long Island from the Atlantic Ocean....

 islands and Long Island mainland. It's flow comes from the Moriches

Moriches Inlet

Moriches Inlet is an inlet connecting Moriches Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck....

 and Shinnecock

Shinnecock Inlet

Shinnecock Inlet is the easternmost of five major inlets connecting bays to the Atlantic Ocean through the narrow 100-mile-long Outer barrier that stretches from New York City to Southhampton, New York on the south shore of Long Island. It splits Westhampton Island from the peninsula extending from...

 Inlets)

The western boundary of this bay is the Smith Point

Smith Point

Smith Point is a San Francisco-based rock band that was formed in 2002. The band has released two EPs and plays at various venues throughout the state of California....

 Bridge; the eastern boundary is the eastern edge of Quantuck Bay.

This bayside habitat includes the tidal creeks and marshes feeding into Moriches Bay from the Long Island mainland.

A thriving habitat off the Atlantic ocean, the Moriches Bay is used by Long Islanders for local fishing.
It is a natural habitat for shellfish

Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

, migrating and wintering waterfowl, colonial nesting waterbirds, beach-nesting birds, migratory shorebirds, raptors

Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....

, and rare plants.
The Great South Bay

Great South Bay

Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is approximately long. It's protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island and Captree Island.Robert Moses Causeway adjoins...

 and Moriches Bay bay bottoms up to the barrier beach are owned by the towns though a grant by the King long before the existence of the union. It has been repeatedly adjudicated (even to the Supreme Court) that the land grants in the Dongan (Governor of New York) patents (Islip, Brookhaven, Southampton and East Hampton Towns,1686) are valid. However, since 1968 the federal government has been attempting to take title of and lay claim to, by adverse possession, the bay bottoms of Islip and Brookhaven Towns extending outward from the barrier beach. It (the federal government) has repeatedly published intentionally erroneous maps(such as the one above) showing boundaries of the Fire Island Seashore extending out into the bay when the real boundary is the shoreline of the barrier beach.

See also

• Outer Barrier
  Outer barrier
  The outer barrier, also known as the Long Island and New York City barrier islands, refers to the string of barrier islands that divide the lagoons south of Long Island from the Atlantic Ocean....
  
  
• Moriches Inlet
  Moriches Inlet
  Moriches Inlet is an inlet connecting Moriches Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck....
  
  
• Patchogue Bay
  Patchogue Bay
  Patchogue Bay is a bay on the south-central shores of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York.Part of the Great South Bay, Patchogue Bay is a cove between the points of land known as Blue Point and Howells Point, and across which ferries run south to Fire Island.The Patchogue Bay bay bottom up to...
  
  
• Suffolk NY
• South Shore Estuary
  South Shore Estuary
  The South Shore Estuary is an estuary located along the south shore of Long Island, between the mainland and the outer barrier islands, in eastern New York state...