Tuesday, November 30, 2021

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

November 2021
What's Happening at Gulf Specimen?
Giving Tuesday Fundraiser for our Anne Rudloe Memorial Education Center
Today, November 30th is known as giving Tuesday in the non-profit/charity realm. Through Facebook, millions of non-profits and charities set up fundraisers in hopes to raise money for their cause. Today only, Facebook matches donations for this day only, giving away up to 8 million dollars to organizations around the country. We have had large success with this fundraiser in the past and are hopeful this year.

We have decided that our proceeds from this fundraiser will go towards furnishing our Anne Rudloe Memorial Marine Science Education Center. With the windows delivered, the building itself is fully finished, now we just need furniture! We have linked the GoFundMe, the Amazon Wishlist as well as our Facebook page linked to the Giving Tuesday Fundraiser.

We cannot wait until we are able to hold our first event in our new space!
Night Collections with Cypress Rudloe and Ethan Dolata
On Tuesday, November 16th, Cypress Rudloe, Ethan Dolata and I set out in search for Atlantic stingrays, sea robins and other nocturnally active critters to fill specimen orders.

"Normally we stick to daytime collections, but sometimes we like to venture out at night and see what we find," Ethan Dolata said.
We started our 30 minute boat ride around 6 pm when the sun was setting. By the time we made it out to an active site on Dickerson Bay, the sun had disappeared and the full moon was lighting up the sky.

Collecting at night brings a very different range of species up in the net. We were specifically looking for sea robins and mantis shrimp, but the full moon was lighting up the sky and causing too much light for the shrimp to be out.  
Mantis shrimp have compound eyes which can have up to 16 photoreceptors and allows them to see different wavelengths of light such as UV and polarized light. Due to this, they are very light sensitive and tend to only be found when the night is very dark and the moon is not full.

This trip, we were able to collect lane snapper, an orange filefish, spiny boxfish and much more! We also collected sea robins which we shipped out to Harvard University later in the week!

We never know what we will get during our collections. Cypress has seen all kinds of critters pulled up in the shrimp nets.

Throughout the month of November, Cypress and Ethan have fulfilled many orders of specimens for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The dive team has gone on two collection dives targeting sponges and purple sea urchins, and now we have completed a successful night collection trip.

We are so grateful for all of the schools, aquariums, zoos, and research laboratories who purchase our specimens for educational purposes and keep us doing what we love!
Gulf Specimen Attended the Sopchoppy Mullet Festival
On Saturday, November 13th Gulf Specimen set up looking tanks and touch trays at the Sopchoppy Mullet Festival in Sopchoppy, Florida. Here are some highlights in some photos.
Meet Our Intern: Anthony
Anthony is currently enrolled at Tallahassee Community College and wants to go to FSU to become a Marine Biologist, Oceanographer. He has a big passion for the ocean, animals and wants to protect it. He has been going to the gulf coast all his life and has always enjoyed it. “Working at an aquarium was always one of my dreams,” Anthony said. “My favorite animals at the lab are the horseshoe crabs and the stingrays.” His favorite things about working at the lab are educating people on all of our different animals, helping all the animals, and meeting great friends.
Leon County Schools Open Back Up For Field Trips
After a lengthy period of field trip closures due to COVID-19, Leon County Schools have finally opened back up and are allowing schools to once again participate in school field trips.

Chaires Elementary School was the first Leon County School to return to Gulf Specimen for a school field trip on Thursday and Friday (November 18-19). This fifth grade class opted for our two-hour lab and dock tour which includes an informative tour through our aquarium with shark and ray feedings as well as a trip to our living dock where they collected little crabs, jellyfish, shrimp and more!
So far, all of our previously scheduled 2021 Leon County field trips have rescheduled their cancelled trips for later December and into the new year! We are so happy to have these schools travel to our aquarium again, and we cannot wait for the rest of the field trip season!

If your school is looking for an educational field trip, book a tour with us for the 2022 year! We are already filling up days, so be sure to call us ASAP. We have three different options for all ages! Give us a call today (850) 984-5297
Our 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"
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) - Oscar
Oscar is our newest rescue here at GSML. We brought her in Sunday, November 21 from Dog Island, an area heavily affected by red tide.

Oscar, named by her rescuers, had stranded herself onto a very large sandbar. Since we have had her, she is showing minimal signs of red tide toxins, but is showing no signs of clear vision, so we suspect she might have very bad vision or be completely blind.

We are still unsure of why she beached herself. She was dehydrated and very anemic when we brought her in. She is receiving IV fluids daily to aid with both the dehydration and the anemia, but she did pass her second swim test, so she is in one of our quarantine holding tanks for close monitoring.
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. We have had Hope over a month now and are starting to the the bright lights at the end of the tunnel and are starting to plan her release!
Our plan is to meticulously monitor the red tide in our area and plan to release her locally or release her from an area where the red tide is not detected. Right now, we are upping her food consumption in order to get her as healthy as possible before her release.

As of now, we do not have a date in mind for her release and will continue to monitor her and her rehabilitation. We are so proud of how far she has come since day one of her rescue!
Looking to Help Out This Holiday Season?
Here are several ways you can lend a hand:


2.) Choose Gulf Specimen Marine Lab as your Amazon Smile program when doing holiday shopping: https://smile.amazon.com/


4.) Visit the aquarium and see all of our efforts in person

5.) Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay updated about events


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.
Red Cleaning Shrimp:
They provide a rare combination of exotic beauty and a unique display of cleaning symbiosis at its most primitive stage. When a spiny boxfish or filefish approaches, the shrimp begins rhythmically rocking to and fro. Ascending the vertical column of water in a peculiar walking motion, it mounts its “host” and begins picking off parasites. Red Cleaners will swarm over your fingers picking at dead skin or cuts, providing a classroom experience never to be forgotten.
Peanut Worm:
A small fat peanut worm that bores into rocks and coral. Under a dissecting scope it’s fascinating to watch this dwarf unsegmented worm withdrawing its introvert and then thrusting it out like the finger of a rubber glove. They can live for months in a covered finger bowl. 
Lizardfish:
This is a primitive, elongated fish with a wicked set of teeth. They are a benthic, ambush predator which means they are usually seen buried under the sand waiting for their prey. Can be 3 inches to 9 inches.
Slipper Limpet:
Other flattened univalve excellent for embryological studies, demonstrating spiral cleavage. A protandrous hermaphrodite, it often piles up, one individual upon another, when breeding. It possesses a crystalline style and is a ciliary feeder. 
Gulf Specimen Marine Lab | (850) 984-5297| gulfspecimen.org


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