The Firth of Tay is a firth

Firth

Firth is the word in the Lowland Scots language and in English used to denote various coastal waters in Scotland and England. In mainland Scotland it is used to describe a large sea bay, or even a strait. In the Northern Isles it more usually refers to a smaller inlet...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 between the council areas of Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

, Perth and Kinross

Perth and Kinross

Perth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...

, the City of Dundee and Angus

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

, into which Scotland's largest river in terms of flow, the River Tay

River Tay

The River Tay is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in the United Kingdom. The Tay originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui , then flows easterly across the Highlands, through Loch Dochhart, Loch Lubhair and Loch Tay, then continues east through Strathtay , in...

, empties.

Two bridges span the firth, the Tay Road Bridge

Tay Road Bridge

The Tay Road Bridge is a bridge across the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to Dundee in Scotland. At around , it is one of the longest road bridges in Europe, and slopes gradually downward towards Dundee...

 and the Tay Rail Bridge

Tay Rail Bridge

The Tay Bridge is a railway bridge approximately two and a quarter miles long that spans the Firth of Tay in Scotland, between the city of Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife ....

.

Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary was designated a Ramsar site on 28 July 2000.

There is one major island, the marshy Mugdrum Island

Mugdrum Island

Mugdrum Island lies in the Firth of Tay, offshore from the town of Newburgh, Fife, in the east of Scotland.-Geography:Mugdrum is low-lying and reedy, with the "North Deep" and "South Deep" channels on either side of the island. It covers an area of ....

.

The Firth of Tay

Firth of Tay (Antarctica)

Firth of Tay is a sound, 12 miles long and 6 miles wide, extending in a NW-SE direction between the northeast side of Dundee Island and the east portion of Joinville Island. It merges to the northwest with Active Sound with which it completes the separation of Dundee and Joinville Islands...

 in Antarctica was discovered in 1892-93 by Captain Thomas Robertson of the Dundee whaling

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

 expedition and named by him after the one in Scotland.