Lower Tampa Bay

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Lower Tampa Bay is one of four open-water bays which together are segments comprising the Tampa Bay estuary along Florida's gulf coast.

Lower Tampa Bay is located at the mouth of Tampa Bay, where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. It is bounded primarily by other bodies of water including Boca Ciega Bay and Terra Ceia Bay, and the mouth of the Manatee River. Shoreline boundaries for Lower Tampa Bay are found primarily on its southeastern side, where it runs along Manatee County. Its only other land borders are its northern tip at Pinellas Point, assorted barrier islands of Pinellas County, and Egmont Key (part of Hillsborough County) where it meets the gulf.

Lower Tampa Bay has the largest volume of the four sections of Tampa Bay, recieving the flow from the inland bays by way of Middle Tampa Bay. Lower Tampa Bay also receives volume from the Manatee River.

Lower Tampa Bay's edge along the Gulf of Mexico near Egmont Key is the official entrance for shipping traffic into Tampa Bay and its port facilities in St. Petersburg, Weedon Island, Rattlesnake Point, Old Port Tampa, Port Redwing, Port Manatee, and the bay's major port, the Port of Tampa.

www.tampabay.wateratlas.usf.edu/bay/?wbodyatlas=bay&wbo...