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In geography, a marsh is a type of wetland, featuring grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants (possibly with low-growing woody plants) in a context of shallow water. A marsh is different from a swamp, which is dominated by trees rather than grasses and low herbs. The water of a marsh can be fresh, brackish, or saline. Coastal marshes may be associated with estuaries and along waterways between coastal barrier islands and the inner coast.

Marshes are critically important wildlife habitat, often serving as breeding grounds for a wide variety of animalSubkingdom Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subkingdom " Agnotozoa" Placozoa Orthonectida Rhombozoa Subkingdom Metazoa "Radiata" Cnidaria Ctenophora (comb jellies) Bilateria Protostomia Acoelomorpha Platyhelminthes (flatworms) Nemertina (ribbon worms) Gastrotri life.

See also: FenA fen is a type of wetland fed by groundwater and runoff, and containing peat below the waterline. It is, in many ways, intermediate between a bog and a marsh. Fen is an Old English word considered to have proto-Germanic origins, since it has cognates in, Swamp