A main stem of the Bay itself is astir 189 miles (304 km) long, from either a Susquehanna River in the north to the Atlantic Ocean to the south. At its narrowest point (touching Annapolis, Maryland, the Bay is 4 miles (Sextuplet.Quaternity kilometer) wide; at its widest point, touching a mouth of the Potomac River, it is Thirty miles (48.Three kilometer) wide. Aggregate shoreline for a Bay is 11,684 miles (18,804 kilometre), & the area of the Bay & its major affluent is 4,479 mi² (11,600 klick²).

A narrowest point of the Bay is spanned per Chesapeake Bay Bridge. A Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel spans a Twenty-three mile (37 klick) segment of the Bay at touching its mouth.

Geology
A Bay is the drowned valley of a Susquehanna, meaning that was where a flow of any stream flowed after sea level was lower berth, however the Bay's geology & its present form & its super location keep close at hand besides been affected by the bolide impact event at the prevent of the Eocene (about 35.Five million years ago), forming a recently found sunken Chesapeake Bay impact crater.

Area of a Bay, especially the coast line of Calvert County, are lined by drop when a effect of receding waters hundreds to thousands of years ago. These drop, usually referred to as Calvert Cliffs, are far-famed for their fossils, especially fossilized shark teeth. Ossified shark dentition come normally discovered washed au courant the beaches next to the drop. Scientist's Cliffs is a beach community in Calvert County, named so because of the cliffs' propensity for geological finds and numerous fossils.

Very much of the bay is quite shallow. The human Sextet'Septet" (2 m) tall could not only walk across the mouth of the Susquehanna at the upper bay, but could also traverse some 700,000 acres (2,800 km²) of the bay without being entirely submerged. On average, the depth of the Bay is less than 5 fathoms (30 feet or 9 meters).

History
The Chesapeake Bay was the site of the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781, during which the French fleet defeated the Royal Navy in the decisive naval battle of the American Revolutionary War.

Today, the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant uses water from the Bay to cool its reactor.

The bay is also known for the Chesapeake Bay Retriever, a dog breed developed in this area.

Watershed
The largest rivers flowing into the Bay are: Susquehanna River Potomac River James River Appomattox River Rappahannock River Patuxent River Choptank River York River formed by: Mattaponi River Pamunkey River

Fishing Industry
The word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word meaning "Great Shellfish Bay." The Bay was once known for its great seafood production, especially blue crabs, clams and oysters. The plentiful oyster harvests led to the development of the Skipjack, the State Boat of Maryland, which is the only remaining working boat type in the United States still under sail power. Today, the body of water is less productive than it used to be, because of runoff from development throughout the watershed, urbanization, particularly on its western shore, overharvesting, and invasion of foreign species. The bay though, still yields more fish and shellfish (about 45,000 short tons or 40,000 metric tons yearly) than any other estuary in the United States.

The Bay is famous for its Rockfish, otherwise known as Striped bass. Once on the verge of extinction, Rockfish have made a significant comeback and are now able to be fished in strictly controlled and limited quantities.

The Bay serves as the predominate source of eel in the United States.

In 2005, local governments began debate on the introduction to certain parts of the Bay of a species of asian oyster, to revive the lagging shellfish industry.

Deteriorating environment conditions
In the 1970s, the Chesapeake Bay contained one of the planet's first identified marine dead zones, where hypoxic waters were so depleted in oxygen they were unable to support life, identified when massive fish kills resulted. Chesapeake Bay's oyster industry has also suffered from two diseases: MSX and dermo. Harmful algae blooms such as Pfiesteria which can effect both fish and humans is also a problem. The depletion of oysters due to overharvesting has had a particularly harmful effect on the quality of the Bay. The reduction of oysters, which serve as natural water filters for the Bay, has led to reduced water quality of the Bay: water that was formerly clear for fathoms is now so turbid that a wader may lose sight of his feet before his knees are wet.