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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the turn basin east of the Vehicle Assembly Building and next to the crawlerway, a mother dolphin guides her baby through the water to search for food. Next to them on a rock is an osprey eating a fish. Dolphins inhabit the waters around Kennedy Space Center, along with many different species of oceanic and lagoon fish and shellfish. Mosquito Lagoon to the north, Banana River and Creek to the south and the Indian River to the west make up a special type of estuary called a lagoon, a body of water separated from the ocean by barrier islands, with limited exchange with the ocean through inlets. The Lagoon varies in width from ½ mile to 5 miles and averages only 3 feet in depth. Nearly one-third of the nation's manatee population lives here or migrates through the Lagoon seasonally. The lagoon also has one of the most diverse bird populations anywhere in America