The Petitcodiac River courses through Moncton, New Brunswick and Dieppe, New Brunswick in Canada, into Shepody Bay on the Bay of Fundy. Because of its colour, it is often nicknamed the "chocolate river". The river is 129 km long and drains an area of more than 2,000 km² in southeastern New Brunswick.

The Petitcodiac exhibits one of North America's few tidal bores, a regularly occurring wave that travels up the river on the leading edge of an incoming tide, and hence a tidal wave in the truest sense of the term. The bore is actually caused by tidal activity in the Bay of Fundy which, due to the rapid rise of water levels, forcibly sends a wave of water flowing upstream in rivers that normally flow into the ocean. This wave can vary in size depending on several factors including lunar activity, and travels up the river on top of the outgoing water flow.

The tidal bore was much bigger before the 1968 construction of a causeway between Moncton and Riverview, New Brunswick and is now is just a trickle and the river is considered endangered.

Tributaries of this river include the:

• Anagance River
• Little River
• North River
• Pollett River

The river's name comes from a Mi'kmaq word meaning "bends like a bow".

External Links:

Endangered Rivers
Peticodiac Riverkeepers
Pictures of the Peticodiac River