The Mullica Valley estuary benefits from a combination of protected watershed, low human population density, and lack of extensive development, making it the cleanest estuary in the northeastern U.S. In Beneath the Surface, Ken Able helps the reader gain insights into the kinds of habitats, the animals, and plants that live there. For the first time, readers will gain a better understanding of the importance of these shallow waters, how the amount of salt in the water determines where animals and plants are found in estuaries, the variation in their occurrence, and how all this is changing as the result of climate change. Beneath the Surface emphasizes what this unique marine resource can tell us about the larger world.