Stories from the Seaside - the E-Newsletter from the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab

October 2021

What's Happening at Gulf Specimen?

Our Classroom Renovation is Finished...Now Time to Furnish!

After a lengthy internal renovation process, we are happy to announce that our Anne Rudloe Memorial Education Center is fully finished! The next step in our process is furnishing it with tables, chairs, projectors and more so that we can start planning our lectures and projects! "The new facility will feature a diverse array of classes, from scientists presenting their findings on marine life, and keeping the sea healthy, to offering cooking lessons on how to steam shrimp, make a coquina chowders, and eat delicious local seaweeds. We will call upon local fishing families to talk about their history and changing way of life. Courses offered on aquaculture, water quality, and aquarium maintenance will help young people get jobs and boost the local economy." Our goal is to have tables and chairs facing a monitor screen in one part of the room and then use acoustic dividers to separate a conference space for meetings! We will also have a giant projector screen playing informative videos about Gulf Specimen and the local diversity! We have compiled an Amazon Wishlist as well as a GoFundMe, both of which can be found here! To show our appreciation, we have decided that all donors who choose to donate funds or an item over $25 will receive a Gulf Specimen magnet, and all donors who donate $75 or more will receive a t-shirt! Classroom Furnishing Wishlist Anne Rudloe Memorial Education Center GoFundMe

Gulf Specimen Aids in Seagrass Research by Providing Lab with 15 Emerald Parrotfish By Kylee Lindsey

On Friday, October 1, 2021 Gulf Specimen packed up 15 emerald parrotfish (Nicholsina usta) to be used in a research project studying the effects of parrotfish grazing on seagrass beds.  Gulf Specimen provides specimens to over 2,000 schools, research laboratories, and universities across the country for educational and research purposes where they are used daily to teach future scientists about the marine science and biological world. Getting to sit down with some of these scientists and learn more about their research is one of our favorite things to do. It allows us to know that our specimens are being used to aid in beneficial scientific research and can be used to make a difference in the marine world.  Jamila Roth contacted Gulf Specimen in July looking for parrotfish to use in her PhD research project and was hoping that we could help her find the specific species she needed.  There are over 80 identified species of parrotfish found in the Gulf of Mexico, all of which can be found in Florida waters, so finding the right species and sized (3-4 inch) parrotfish needed for her study has been a tough job for Gulf Specimen, but eventually we made it happen.

Roth is a PhD student attending her fifth year at the University of Florida working in the natural resources and environmental department with an interdisciplinary study in ecology.  Roth has previous research experience studying invasive species and participating in study abroad trips to Costa Rica and Panama. Her favorite part about researching is getting to spend time outside with different animals and learn about south Florida’s ecosystems Before starting her physical project, Roth simulated parrotfish grazing using a hole punch to punch half moon shapes into seagrass leaves to see how it impacted the seagrass. She has also previously studied the effects of sea urchin grazing on seagrass and now is very curious to see how the two could potentially relate with their effects.

Her project with the parrotfish will be focusing on how the nutrient availability of phosphorus impacts how the parrotfish choose to feed. She will study this by offering different versions of seagrass, one fresh and one ground that is embedded with auger to create a seagrass ‘‘jello’’.  By grinding the seagrass into a jello material, it removes the component of texture. This will alter the chemical makeup and will further allow Roth to decide if the chemistry or the texture of the seagrass is driving the eating preferences of the parrotfish.  Long term, Roth hopes this research will help scientists understand how tropicalization, which is the increase in tropical herbivores, might impact Gulf of Mexico seagrass species. This is an important study because of the importance of seagrasses to many other species of organisms that use it for protection, food, and other resources.  “Since seagrasses provide many tangible benefits to the Gulf of Mexico, we want to know if they might be jeopardized by an increase in herbivores,” Roth said. According to Roth, tropicalization has had negative impacts across the world with losses of organisms and foundation species, so she hopes to learn more about how it will affect the Gulf of Mexico specifically.

Gulf Specimen Awarded TSF Board Choice Award at Tallahassee Science Festival!

On Saturday, October 16th, Gulf Specimen set up a table at the 10th annual Tallahassee Science Festival showcasing organisms housed in our aquarium and found locally in the Gulf of Mexico. We filled our touch trays with starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, hermit crabs and more! Our looking tanks showed off sea horses, sponges, fish, blue crabs, and more. We were honored to be rewarded with the 2021 Tallahassee Science Festival Board Choice Award. Our outreach events allow visitors to observe marine life up close and ask questions about our animals and our conservative mission.

Meet Our Interns: Zoie & Diana

Zoie is an upcoming sophomore at Florida State University where she is pursuing her bachelors in biology. She grew up in Wakulla County and has visited the lab many times before but never learned about the work that goes into maintaining the facility and it’s position as a specimen supplier. Working at the lab provides insight into professional marine husbandry, specimen collection and marine science education as Zoie decides what kind of career path she’s most interested in. Her favorite lab animals are the black bass and the scorpion fish. Click here to learn more about our Internship program! Diana is a recent graduate from New College of Florida in Sarasota, where she earned a bachelors in Marine Biology. She has been coming to Gulf Specimens as part of school trips since she was a child, which was a large part of what made her interested in marine science. As part of her degree, she wrote an undergraduate thesis focused on feeding behaviors of sandbar sharks. Her favorite animals in the lab are the nurse sharks and the southern stingrays. Before working at Gulf Specimens, she never had the chance to get hands-on experience taking care of marine creatures. She has enjoyed learning how to care for the residents of the lab. In the future, Diana hopes to attend graduate school to pursue a masters degree in marine science. She hopes to continue her research with sharks and to study marine ecology and conservation.

What to Know About Red Tide and Marine Life

Red tide can be found throughout the world, isn't all the same species and it isn’t always red. The water can appear brown, rusty orange, or green. If the red tide levels are low enough, the water can even appear normal in color. In the United States alone, there are 3 species of dinoflagellates and 1 species of diatom that are responsible for red tide, normally seen in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Maine, and off the coast of California.  The species found locally in the Gulf of Mexico, is Karenia brevis. It can be found all over the Gulf from Florida, Alabama and Louisiana, to Texas and Mexico. K brevis produces brevetoxins, which is a neurotoxin. This makes it a harmful algal bloom in large concentrations.

Algal blooms can form naturally 10-40 miles offshore, so the general cause is somewhat unknown. K brevis is brought to the surface by upwelling and meets the nutrient rich, warm, light waters, and so it blooms and turns from harmless to harmful. This harmful bloom can have severe physical impacts on marine life and other coastal organisms. Marine mammals and sea turtles may consume contaminated prey or may inhale the brevetoxins on their surface inhales. This could lead to neurological damage, strandings, and even death. If marine turtles are rescued, it can take up to 50 days for the toxins to clear their systems.

Benthic, or bottom, communities are very susceptible to die-offs due to the decrease in light levels and food sources. The algal bloom can spread for miles and becomes dense enough that light cannot penetrate through it. The most important thing to remember is that although red tide is a naturally occurring thing, it is extremely influenced by pollution and increasing nutrients running into the ocean.

October Sea Turtle Rescues

"Please call the FWC Wildlife Hotline at 888.404.3922 if you see a distressed or deceased sea turtle on our beach. Please do not try to put it into the Gulf. Please follow the FWC dispatch instructions until we’re able to respond"

Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) - Hope Hope came into our care on Wednesday, October 20th from St. George Island, FL. St. George Island is currently suffering from a very large red tide event, so we are very positive that Hope's stranding and the algae bloom were related. When she came into our care, she was extremely lethargic, weak, dehydrated and seemed depressed. The only movement she would make was to instinctually lift her head to breathe. Since Wednesday of last week, she started coming around day by day. She started becoming more reactive, looking around the room at people, squirming when we placed her IV needle, and moving her body to become more comfortable in her tub. She is now moved into a larger tank after passing her swim test and breathing strongly! We have given hope round the clock care and are very proud and grateful for her fighting spirit and the will to regain her strength and return home to the ocean. We are taking her care day-by-day, but we see all the positive signs of recovery. Since Hope is a female loggerhead, her survival is so important to the loggerhead species! Her survival means that she can go on to produce hundreds of babies to get one step closer to getting loggerhead sea turtles off the threatened species list! You can find her WCTV Tallahassee News Story at the link below to see her in action and learn more about her rescue and rehab! Click Here To Learn More About Hope's Rescue and Rehab-WCTV

Gulf Specimen has responded to 5 sea turtle rescues in October alone. Our sea turtle rehabilitation program is fully funded by donations. We have stocked our Amazon Wishlist with basics needed for Hope's care while she is with us. You can find the full Wishlist here!

Donate to our Sea Turtle Program

Wonders of the Gulf: Creature Feature

North Florida is gifted with an amazing array of diverse animals where we find fascinating creatures. Our exhibits change every season.

Green Moray Eel Green moray eels are covered in a slimy mucus that gives it a yellowish tint, but is actually a brownish color underneath. Their scale-less bodies are extremely muscular and laterally compressed, similar to a sea serpent.

Decorator Crab This species “decorates” its carapace with pieces of sponge, corals, algaes, and anemones from its surroundings to blend in and hide from predators.

Batfish This bizarre, highly modified benthic fish has frog-like pectoral fins that enable it to walk on the bottom or swim in a cumbersome fashion. It has a lure emerging from its head which is thought to secrete a hormone. It also feeds on small snails.

Cannonball Jellyfish Its common name is derived from the similarity of its bell to a cannon ball in shape and size. This species is highly active. It can propel itself through the water by rapidly contracting its bell. They make an active display.

Gulf Specimen Marine Lab | (850) 984-5297| gulfspecimen.org Support Us Here! Anne Rudloe Memorial Education Center Amazon Wishlist

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