• Georgia is the western most state on the east coast and, therefore, has the greatest average tide of about 7 feet, with some tides up to 11 feet.
• Five major freshwater rivers flow from the upper reaches of Georgia into the Atlantic Ocean: the Savannah, Satilla, Ogeechee, Altamaha, and St. Marys.
• The coastal waters off Georgia and Florida serve as the world's only known calving area of Northern Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis) from December to late March.
• Georgia has an average of 1,000 Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) nests each year.
• There are nearly 400,000 acres of coastal marshlands in Georgia which represent a considerable portion of all remaining marshlands along the entire eastern coast of the United States.
• Georgia's 14 barrier islands protect the mainland coast from hurricanes and Atlantic Ocean storms. Made primarily of sand, the islands are referred to as "dynamically stable" because their positions and shapes change over time due to the ocean's energy.
• Referred to as a pioneer species, Sea Oats (Uniloa paniculata) are so critical in maintaining healthy sand dunes that they are protected by law and it is illegal to pick them.
• Estuaries, where fresh and salt water mix, are among the most ecologically and economically important and productive ecosystems on the planet. More than two thirds of the fish and shellfish we eat spend some part of their lives in estuaries.
• It is thought that the Carcharadon Megalodon, a shark that swam in Georgia waters long ago, looked much like the modern great white shark. Teeth from the ancient Carcharadon Megalodon, the Georgia state fossil, can measure over six inches long.