Photos courtesy of Hal Rhodes.

What are they?

Along the coast of the panhandle of Florida are the dune lakes, unusual and interesting.  Coastal dune lakes are found within about two miles of the coast. They’re typically shallow and irregularly shaped. They are usually permanent water bodies, but their water levels fluctuate substantially since they create transitory interchanges with the Gulf of Mexico. An aerial view shows the relationship of one of them to the Gulf of Mexico.

Photo courtesy of Tracy Howell.

Photo courtesy of Moon Creek Studios

Photo courtesy of Moon Creek Studios

Where are they?

Coastal dune lakes are reportedly found in limited numbers throughout the world along the coasts of New Zealand, Australia, Madagascar, and in the United States along the coasts of Oregon, South Carolina, and Northwest Florida, including 26 miles of Walton County coastline.

Each of Walton County’s coastal dune lakes has its own personality, based on the combination of its size, watershed features, surrounding land uses, and outlet characteristics. Outlet openings vary greatly in length, frequency and duration. They are driven by each lake’s critical high water level as well as prevailing climatic conditions (e.g., droughts and rain).  As a result, some of the dune lakes can be completely freshwater, some brackish, and some salty, with varying degrees of salinity occurring between different lake stages. The changing condition of water chemistry in the coastal dune lakes makes them dynamic, biologically diverse ecosystems.

Florida LAKEWATCH
(UF/IFAS  School of Forest Resources and Conservation)

Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
7922 NW 71st Street
Gainesville, FL 32653-3071
Toll Free Message Line: 1-800-LAKEWATCH (525-3928)
Phone: 352/392-4817
Fax: 352/392-4902
E-Mail:fl-lakewatch@ufl.edu