The
Laguna Madre is a long, shallow,
hypersaline lagoon along the western coast of the
Gulf of Mexico in
Nueces,
Kenedy,
Kleberg,
Willacy and
Cameron Counties in
Texas,
United States. It is separated by the roughly long Saltillo Flats
land bridge into Upper and Lower lagoons. The two are joined by the
Intracoastal Waterway, which has been dredged through the lagoon. Cumulatively, Laguna Madre is approximately 130 miles (209 km) long, the length of
Padre Island. The main extensions include
Baffin Bay in Upper Laguna Madre, Red Fish Bay just below the Saltillo Flats, and
South Bay near the Mexican border.