See lagoon (disambiguation) for other possible meanings.
A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank), coral reef, or similar feature. Thus, the enclosed body of water behind a barrier reef or enclosed by an atoll reef is called a lagoon. This application of lagoon in English dates from 1769. It adapted and extended the sense of the Venetian laguna (cf Latin lacuna, 'empty space'), which specifically referred to Venice's shallow, island-studded stretch of salt water, protected from the Adriatic by the barrier beaches of the Lido (the Venetian Lagoon).
On the Mid-Atlantic Coast of the United States, such lagoons enclosed by barrier islands retain the more traditional designation sounds. Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound might more accurately be termed "lagoons". Though Long Island Sound is a true sound, Great South Bay, between Long Island and the barrier beaches of Fire Island, is actually a lagoon.
On the Pacific side of the North American continent, particularly in northern California, there occur scattered, protected and picturesque lagoons.
The term "lagoon" is also given to an artificial pond used for treatment of effluent (usually to oxygenate or settle particulates) or to accommodate an overspill from surface drains during heavy rainfall.
The lagoon is a nursery for tiny fish, many of which are important to commercial fishing industries, and which feed nestling herons and egrets in the nearby colony at Audubon Canyon Ranch.
While Bolinas Lagoon is a sanctuary for the many species which spend most or all of their lives there, it makes its mark on a global scale as a crucial link in the chain of wetlands used by millions of waterbirds which migrate along the Pacific Coast Flyway.
As more sediments settle in the lagoon, the volume of water that enters from the sea decreases, the effects of scouring are decreased, and the pace of sedimentation accelerates.
Today, LAGOON belongs to the Custom Yacht division of the Beneteau Group (the world's largest recreational boatbuilder) and proposes an exclusive choice of multihulls with the major architectural contribution coming from the famous architects VPLP.
LAGOON has also been involved in a number of special projects such as the construction of the trimarans for the movie Waterworld.
LAGOON has also proven itself in the realm of custom monohulls and racing multihulls (Pierre Ier, Fleury Michon, etc.) whose overall list of victories remains unequaled by any other boatbuilder to this day.
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