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

July 2022

Rallying for Renovation and Camper/RV Donations

Are you looking to donate your liveable camper or RV to a 501(c)3 nonprofit for a taxable donation? Gulf Specimen Marine Lab is currently looking for camper or RV donations to help provide free housing for future interns! We are raising funds to renovate a three-bedroom trailer and a studio apartment, both already owned by Gulf Specimen, but are looking for more options! We are planning on being able to offer free housing to 10 or so individuals! By providing free housing to our interns, we will be able to advertise to schools, universities, and labs all over the country! Free housing takes away the financial burden of students having to find temporary housing for an unpaid internship.

Through their three-month internship, they are gaining crucial marine biology knowledge and hands-on experience in working and housing marine animals. Providing free housing would also allow interns to live close to the aquarium and would save them money on living expenses and travel expenses to and from the aquarium, allowing them to work more days a week and become experts in their field! We are so excited to kick-start this fundraiser and further expand and improve our internship program! If you would like to donate, your options are below!

Facebook Fundraiser

Paypal

Camper/RV Donation

New Coastal Upland Tour Program Coming to Gulf Specimen

On June 8th, Cypress Rudloe and Jack Rudloe met with Dan Frisk to sign the papers allowing Gulf Specimen Marine Lab access to lead an educational program with guided tours through local upland habitats. These new programs will allow adults and high school students the chance to explore the upland habitats of the Northern Gulf Coast in the Otter Lake area of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge around Dickerson Bay.

"The objectives of these programs and tours are to get students out of a classroom setting and into the wild habitats of North Florida and explore the protected natural communities."

We do not have a set date for the first program, but we are excited to take the steps needed to further organize and lead educational programs and interactive tours through habitats of freshwater ponds and the longleaf pine forests that surround Dickerson Bay. We are very excited about this opportunity to further expand and share the mission of Gulf Specimen and the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge of conservation and protection of our natural environment around us. We will work to highlight the direct effect these upland habitats have on our coastal habitats and how the importance of protecting one environment can positively affect another. Once everything is set and ready, we will begin advertising these programs for the public to participate and learn more about the local environment!

Our July Sea Turtle Rescues

During the month of July, Gulf Specimen was called on three different occasions for sea turtle rescues and strandings! We responded to sea turtles caught on fishing hooks, a floating sea turtle found offshore, and unfortunately a boat strike sea turtle in Alligator Harbor. This month, we have been super busy working with our three rehabilitation patients: Scuttle, Puddle, and Barnacle Billie to make sure they are getting all of the amazing care they deserve. We respond to sea turtle emergencies at all times of the day rain or shine and we love the work, especially since we get to work with the cutest patients! We held a Facebook fundraiser to help cover the costs of the rehabilitation, and we were blown away with support. We raised $960.00 in less than two weeks! These costs will help cover their medical care and supplies while in rehabilitation as well as food and treats! We have also added more medical and cleaning supplies to our Amazon Wishlist to help with current and future patients!

Installation of Signs and Nets at Local Piers

If you have been to any public pier from Panacea to Appalachicola, you might have seen our new PIER Initiative signs that we recently installed! The PIER Initiative is part of the Loggerhead MarineLife Center's program to help fishermen and fishing piers react safely and responsibly if they accidentally catch a sea turtle. We installed informative signs, sea turtle retrieval nets, and monofilament bins to help reduce fishing line pollution around fishing piers! We are working to replace old signs on piers as well as installing new signs on piers that have been rebuilt! You can see our net and signs on the Wooley Park Fishing Pier featured on WCTV Tallahassee after reopening!

Visiting Scientist Studying Sea Urchin Embryology

During the week of June 27th, Gulf Specimen hosted Dr. Bill Roudebush and his three students in the Anne Rudloe Marine Science Center. where they conducted different research projects on the short-spined sea urchin, Lytechinus variegatus. Dr. Roudebush is a professor and researcher at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Greenville where he is studying aspects of embryology in sea urchins to better understand the embryology of humans. Dr. Roudebush has been ordering sea urchins from us on and off for the past 5-6 years, but due to the recent heat and issues with shipping, he decided to bring his research to us!

After working with a variety of different animals over the 10 years he's studied embryology, Dr. Roudebush has started to prefer using sea urchins for his study. This is significantly due to the shorter time period it takes for the sperm and egg to fertilize and bond together. In mice, it takes five days for the embryo to develop, and in sea urchins, it only takes one hour. Specifically, Dr. Roudebush and his team were using the naturally occurring biochemical, PAF, to see if larger or smaller doses cause any changes in the gene expression.

Because of this shorter time period, Dr. Roudebush and his three research students were able to alter any aspect of the experiment easily and have more time for more experimental trials. Learn more about using our education center for your own research here!

Our July Beachwalk with Debbi

During our July beachwalk, we found 5 different sea turtle nests, a "salad bowl" of different edible algae , and we discovered lots of critters to talk about! As always, we picked up a big bag of trash and had a blast discovering fun shells and organisms on the beach! Our August beachwalk is scheduled for August 27th at 9:00am. Call us at 850-984-5297 to reserve your spot on this fun outing!

Local Fiddler Crab Research at Bottoms Road

At the end of Bottoms Road in Panacea, you may have noticed setups of screened and unscreened pipes, temperature gauges, and even scientists staring for hours at the sand trying to study behavior. All of this is part of a research project studying the two species of fiddler crabs that reside locally, Uca pugilator and Uca panacea. The research is conducted by the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory with Zachary Darnell leading the team. They are conducting several different projects at the same time on different parts of the beach. For one project, they use temperature gauges to try and see how the crabs are affected by different temperatures at different times of the day. Another one of their projects marks the burrows of the two different species throughout the day and then, later on, they measure the elevation of each burrow. Learning about research happening locally is one of our favorite things! If you know of any cool research projects happening in or around Panacea, contact us to be featured in one of our newsletters!

New interns: Megan & Julie

Julie is a recent graduate from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, GA. She received a Bachelor's degree in Biology. She has had a love for all animals and the environment her entire life. She is from South Georgia and grew up coming to Panacea and Gulf Specimen Marine Lab. Her passion for wildlife has only grown and her knowledge of marine animals has flourished while interning at Gulf Specimen.Her favorite part of working at Gulf Specimen is getting to care for and feed all of the animals, getting to handle the different species, collecting specimens, and marsh tours. Her favorite animals at the lab are the horseshoe crabs, Little Herc the resident loggerhead sea turtle, the southern stingrays, nurse sharks and the slipper lobster. After this internship, Julie's hopes are to pursue a career in an aquarium or a zoo and continue working closely with animals. Megan is a senior student at the University of North Florida studying Coastal Environmental Science with a minor in International Studies. As she grew up along the coasts of Florida, she has had a passion for the environment and specifically marine biology her whole life. Her favorite portion of this internship so far has been interacting with the aquarium guests; it is important to spread important information about the environment and oceans to the public and providing hands-on experience and exciting knowledge to the youth of this generation has a significant impact on the future of the child and the sustainability of our planet. Her favorite specimens at the aquarium are the oscillated moray eels and the pencil urchins. After she graduates from university, she plans to continue working in the aquarium or zoo setting hopefully holding a conservation or education role.

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 Grouper: Common along the west coast of Florida in moderate or deep water on hard bottoms. Caudal fin is emarginate or truncate. The spinous dorsal fin is high, especially the second spine. Reddish brown in color with a few pale blotches or spots, some indication of banding. Scattered black spots sometimes around eyes and on head.

Sculptured Venus Clam: A small, white clam, with an elaborate ridged shell, that dwells on shelly sand bars. Makes excellent live food for gastropods and fish.

Loggerhead Sponge: There are two color forms for this species: Spheciospongia vesparium pallida a bright yellow, and the typical black coloration. Spheciospongia vesparium Excellent for demonstrating liquid transport through flagellated chambers. Spheciospongia is host to the pink snapping shrimp, Synalpheus longicarpus, which because of its modified form and habits is a good illustration of specialization and commensalism.

Serpent Star: When darkness falls, these small bodied long armed ophiuroids slip out from beneath the rocks or sea weed, and propel themselves forward, twisting and writhing like small octopuses. A piece of fish dropped in the aquarium sends them into a frenzy of lashing arms, as they wrap themselves around the food, writhing and heaving until its devoured. Guaranteed to catch the attention of even the most bored, uninterested student.

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