If you occasionally work the exhibit paths, these pages can be a handy dandy refresher reference guide for you. They include info from the "What's New" articles written by Billy Graham going back to January 2001 (this page archives 2003, click here for 2002 exhibit info) on a variety of exhibit animals (including where many are from) which you may find useful in fielding questions from guests.
An easy way to use these pages is to do a word search. For example, have a question about the goliath grouper? If you use either Netscape or Internet Explorer (this includes you AOL users), just simultaneously press the [Control] and [F] buttons on your keyboard to pull up the find menu, and type in "goliath".
You can also find more offbeat things to talk about on the Things That Make You Go Hmmm... page. 12/18/01
The dragons exhibit is getting ready for the new animals (Short dragonfish, Pot Belly Seahorses, Short headed seahorses, and West Australian seahorses).
Have you noticed the weedy Seadragons lately? They have almost doubled in size as they grow older (they are about three yrs old now). They can grow larger in the wild, but because they are in the small space here, they will not grow much more. The reason they have been growing is because they learned to eat frozen mysid shrimp, and have been eating well.
12/11/01
You may have noticed that the Gulf Sturgeon in the springs right exhibit are no longer there. We lost them several weeks ago to an unknown cause. We have always had trouble keeping them. We had several in mangrove right about three years ago, and those did not last long either. They have such an interesting story with them, mainly because they live so long (70 years or more).
12/4/01
There are a couple of new porcupine puffers in the bays area with the stone crabs. What pretty blue eyes they have!! And they will follow you as you walk by.
The Australian potbellies we have are about half grown. This species gets quite large (14 inches) when full grown. And, as Alex says "All they do is eat and have babies".
The real pretty larger orange fish in the wine glass with the female wolf eel and other kelp dwellers are Yelloweye Rockfish. They also hang around the bottom with the wolf eel..
Cormorants (the name is a French derivation of Latin for "sea crow") can be found in some fresh waters in great numbers. I've seen double-cresteds as far north as Minnesota.
And anhingas have a very cool bill. It's serrated at the end, which makes it look like it has teeth. It uses the modified bill to grip onto the little fishies it catches. I actually caught one once which had its bill hopelessly entangled in twine, and was fortunate to be able take a close look at this underwater swimmer.
Neither of these birds have the oil glands which some birds (like ducks) find useful in a watery habitat. Which is why you'll occasionally see them perched on a limb with their wings spread - drying their feathers.
11/27/01
About 20 Spot drum have been added. They are the new striped and silvery fish hanging out in the beach now. This a popular game fish locally. It is the only drum in our area with a distinctly forked caudal (tail) fin. They have a distinct brownish spot on their shoulder, and have 12-15 narrow dark lines on the upper body. These Spots will grow to about 14 inches in the wild.
11/20/01
Today Sylviane (bays and beaches biologist) added a skimmer bird to the beach. He came from Lowry Park and right now looks a little shabby. His feathers are rough, but should smooth out soon. The black skimmer is related to gulls and terns. They have shorter legs and longer beaks. The bill is an unequal scissorlike bill and is red in color with a black tip. They are black above and white below with extremely long wings. The coastal species skims low (suppose that is how it gets its name) dipping its knifelife lower mandible in the water, scooping up small fish and crustaceans. They range from Cape Cod to South America and are found on ocean beaches, salt bays, tidewater, and in Florida on inland lakes. The voice is very distinctive soft, short, barking note.
The horn shark eggs continue to be a conversation piece. Did you know that the horn shark is the only shark that displays any matronly instincts with her eggs? Yes, she will pick them up and insert them in crevices in the coral or rock so that when they hatch, they are protected from predators.
Another exhibit not usually noticed by guests is the nursery. It is always interesting when we point out the fact that these skates are not only in the small tanks below, but in the incubator at the top still in the eggcase. These Little Skates (actual species name) are found up in the northeastern US. We should receive another shipment of eggs soon from the Boston Aquarium, and will have to return our adult skates to them in the spring so they can be released into the proper environment. The ones we have in the small tanks are full grown, some of them are almost three years old. The skate is the largest member of the ray family with 174 species worldwide.
11/6/01
Here's something else that is almost impossible to see (since they are barely one inch long). You have to look close on the bottom of the Weedy sea dragon exhibit in the Dragons Down under to see these Sea Moths.
The common name for them is short dragonfish. [click here for photos, and here for more info on this bizarre-looking little fish]. The little animals are usually found in tropical waters of the western Pacific, the Red Sea and South Africa. They inhabit lagoons often among algea or seagrass beds, feasting on crustaceans and worms in the sediment-water interface.
One strange habit is that they shed their skin in one piece with a rapid jump periodically to rid themselves of this nuisance.
This Dragons exhibit will have some new animals in shortly. Alex Slater, the biologist in charge, is now in LA picking up new animals for this exhibit. The seahorses that are presently between the weedy and leafy sea dragons will be exchanged for some new ones. The leafy sea dragon now in with the weedys will be put with his own kind soon, so more animals can be put with the weedys. The pigmy sea horses will stay, they are a great conversation animal and found here locally.
Here are some of the new animals: Australian Pot-belly seahorses
This species has a long life span of over 10 years and is very prolific, having over 400 eggs per brood. Fairly large, can grow to about four inches long
Short Headed seahorses, also from South Australia are another species being introduced. These are much smaller and less prolific, producing only about 100 eggs.
Other midsized seahorses include the West Australian seahorse, White's seahorse, and High-crown seahorses. All of these animals will be introduced into the exhibit in about 40 days. The seahorses presently in the exhibit will be surplussed to other aquariums (Denver, Monterey, Baltimore).
10/30/01
Here are some coral facts:
Coral colonies cover about 230,000 square miles of the sea floor and produce between 100,000 and 500,000 tons of limestone per square mile each year. These coral reefs provide food and breeding grounds for approximately 50,000 species of animals (fish, anemones, starfish, crabs, eels, sea slugs, sponges, and some other more insignicant animal groups), including almost one third of the 14,000 species of marine fish.
Here's one from Jonathan's old fact sheets -
baby eels are called elvers..
The Spot shrimp in the exhibit (some new ones added) have been really active and occasionally flit up by the box where we keep the Rose seastar.
10/26/01
Did you know that cuttlefish have a closed circulatory system with three hearts? That was a question on "Do you want to be Millionaire", and was not answered correctly. Besides the three hearts, they also have two gills and two kidneys.
The octopus, of course, is the best known of this family. They have a central nervous system, with four discrete regions of the brain, and nerves to the chromatophore muscles (initiating color changes under different conditions). Also the eye of the cephalopod and the eye of vertebrates show extraordinary similarity. Both have a cornea, iris, lens, and retina.
10/18/01
Last time, I mentioned the rose sea star in the No Bonz. These sea stars can have from 8-14 arms. Clusters of spines cover the upper surface. They will grow to be about 10 inches in diameter.
Do you happen to know what the largest sea star is? The Sunburst seastar (like the ones we saw in the 3D movie Deep Blue) can reach a diameter of over one meter (39 inches+). The next largest is our own Short Spined seastar ( the light purple ones in the No Bonz) which reaches over two feet in diameter.
The habitat of the Rose seastar is circumpolar (that means cold water!!) like on the Pacific Coast of Canada south to Puget Sound. The animal is found in low intertidal waters down to about 1200 meters (4000 feet). The primary food source is sea pens, nudibranches, brozoans, tunicates and bivalves.
More Ochre sea stars have been added to the No Bonz and there are now more Green Sea Anemones up where you can touch them.
10/3/01
Scorpions produce eggs which are hatched within the uterus (ovoviviparous). Most groups of scorpions are called colonies. The scorpions we have are Emperor Scorpions which in the wild are found mostly in the tropical rainforests of West Africa. However the original ones we have came from Segrest Farms, where we get a lot of smaller insects.
There are 1100+ species of scorpions world wide. The earliest scorpion fossil was found to be 430 million years old. Remarkable, like some other arachnids (horseshoe crab, tartantula), the ancestors bear great semblance to today's animals.
Let's review some scorpion parts - Claws (feeding appendages)-pedipalps; stinger - aculeus; tail-metasoma (5 segments); body-mesosoma (7 segments).
Scorpions, like most other arachnids, molt, and in most cases the male is killed and eaten by the female after mating.
Did you know that in ancient Greek mythology Zeus' son, Orion the Hunter (like a star grouping in the sky), was killed by a scorpion?
Note that the male hooded merganser is now in his beautiful breeding plumage and will display it to anyone that will notice. We lost another female wood duck to the gators, now the male is without a mate. There is still an ibis nest in the mangroves right area.
We have some new green anemones and bat stars coming from the Vancouver aquarium this week.
9/26/01
Here are some facts trivia for you as last inputs from our "facts and trivia man". A group of flamingos are called a "flamboyance", a group of hedgehogs are called an "array"; and a baby mosquito is a "nymph".
9/12/01
Elasmobranch (sharks and rays) byproducts are quite common. Here's a new one..in South America skate egg cases are shredded and used to make tea. This tea has some medicinal uses, and is a common cure for bronchitis and respiratory problems. I have no idea whether it works or not, but the practice is growing.
9/5/01
Right now there are 47 birds in the wetlands of 26 species and 7 birds at the beach of 4 species. Total 54 birds, 33 species. This does not include any birds or raptors in the holding areas for shows (like the raven, screech owls, turaco, mallard, great horned owl, Harris Hawk & red headed woodpecker).
8/29/01
The alligator--our state reptile!! It is a member of crocodile family?? Right? Well it is. There are 22 species in this family.
Included is the Chinese alligator, the "other gator". This animal is endangered in China, and there are only about 130 of them in the wild. Loss of habitat, the expansion of farming, and the destruction by humans are the reason for this. Unless it gets some help, it will the become the first crocodilian to become extinct in the wild in history (which dates back 400 million years). It is much smaller than ours, rarely reaching 5 feet but is considered a danger to duck and fish farmers. The Chinese actually believe that the alligator is a symbol of good luck and givers and protectors of life. The gators are regarded as the ancestors of all the Chinese people.
On the other hand, the Nile crocodile, and its preceding god (Sobec) is a feared animal, since it supposedly meets those ancestors headed for the underground hereafter (and hundreds of these crocs were mummified and put in coffins).
But there are over 10,000 Chinese alligators living at the Anhui Research Center near Xuancheng. These could become a pool to introduce into the wild, if necessary. Some are coming to the Bronx Zoo and the Chinese are searching for money to be donated to the cause of saving the Chinese alligator.
8/23/01
For you trivia buffs - did you know the white ibis was a sacred bird in ancient Egypt? Recently millions of these birds were found mummified in the desert west of the pyramids of Giza. They supposedly played a major part in leading the departed kings into the next life.
About a dozen larger blue tangs will be put in the Bay Bottoms exhibit to add some color. The new octopus is still visible.
Speaking of coral, my subject last week, did you know that 1/3 (about 12,000) of the marine fish population feed or breed in the coral reef structures? These reefs also provide homes to an uncommonly high number of phyla - diverse creatures such as anemones, starfish, crabs, eels, sea slugs and sponges. These coral colonies cover about 250,000 square miles of the sea floor.
The #1 most dangerous shark (of the ten listed during Shark Week) - is the Bull shark (known by other common names in different parts of the world - like Zambezi shark, Nicaraugua shark, Gib shark, River shark, Van Rooyan shark, Slipway grey shark, and Squarenose shark).
8/16/01
There is now another female Caribbean reef octopus in the appropriate exhibit. The female will die when she lays her eggs. These eggs can either be deposited on the ocean floor (bentith) or directly into the current stream (pelagic). Our octopus lays the eggs on the ocean floor, where the survivability is greater.
The large green moray eel removed from the deep side of the reef is doing well, and will be reintroduced back into the exhibit soon. This animal is quite large and probably weighs at least 70 pounds.
Coral - plant or animal??
Of course it is animal, supported by plants for its food, however each polyp must actually catch 5-10% of its food!! Corals are cnidarians, closely related to jellyfish and hydras.
Anemones, too are part of this family, and we have many species of these animals in the aquarium. Sean has just added another 10 species of live coral to the Corals Alive exhibit, and has many other new species to be added to the coral farm now under construction.
Coral reefs are made up of colonies of small animals called coral polyps. As polyps grow they build new rock cup skeletons on top of the old ones. They grow best in depths of 40 feet or less, although some can be found as deep as 135 feet. The water must be clean and clear, with temperatures between 68 and 85 degrees with some level of light (for the growth of the plants that provide most of the nourishment-zooxanthellae).
This the time of year that coral spawns. This occurs following the full moons of August (the 4th this year) and September (the 2nd). There are over 35,000 species of coral, some are asexual (like anemones), cloning themselves.
Most other corals are bisexual. The males produce the sperm and exudes them into the water to be carried by the current. In some cases, the female actually gather this sperm, taking it inside to fertilize the eggs intenally. In other cases, the female exudes her eggs also into the water where they unite with the sperm. Then the larvae grow in the water, looking for a place to attach themselves so they can grow. The result--the worlds largest animal made structure--coral reefs!
8/9/01
We have noticed the eggs of the clownfish (anemonefish) in their exhibit. This is the second batch - however, when they hatch they normally are lost as food to the other fish around the anemone.
Clownfish all mature as males, and all females are sex-reversed males. Sex and growth are socially controlled by a dominant female. In the absence of a female, the largest male will turn into a female, and the largest juvenile will rapidly mature into a male (a common occurance with all fish that are born the same sex). The eggs hatch in about a week at night, and the larvae drift in the plankton for 16 or more days.
8/2/01
Also about 200 fish have been added to the Coral reef, mostly grunts and tangs, but for you divers, the answer to "how many fish are in that tank?" is now about 1,800.
7/26/01
One of our scorpions gave birth to five little ones. In case you have never seen scorpion babies, they are all white, and live on the mother's back for about three weeks until they come off and are on their own..During this time, she can be seen ripping apart a cricket and handing (or clawing, if you want to be technical), with her pedipalps, the pieces to her little ones.
After the first molt, at about 3-4 weeks, the new exoskeleton comes in brown, and the babies will then abandon the mother and fend for themselves. The scorpions we have are Emperor scorpions which are found in the warm, humid forests of West Africa. There are over a thousand species of scorpions, world wide, with some smaller brown ones even found here in Florida. Ours are fed crickets and mealworms. This species are usually very docile, rarely stinging anyone.
Did you know that the earliest scorpion fossil found dates back 430 million years, and bears a great resemblance to the modern day representatives?
A recent metamorphosis occurred when one of our black legged poison dart frog tadpoles changed into a little frog, and is now eating small fruit flies and doing well. This animal is located in herp holding, along with the scorpions, however we ask that you not enter this area and disturb these new arrivals.
Over 150 new fish have been added to the coral reef, coming from the Q area acquired during our last collection trip. Most of them are french grunts (96) and blue tangs (30). Others are grunts, hogfish, angels, surgeons, and damselfish.
More coldwater fish are being added to the wine glass by the shark tank. Most of these came from Monterey Bay and Scripps. Another pair of wolf eels may be inbound shortly. The Napoleon Wrasse will still be a couple weeks before it is in the offshore tank.
7/12/01
Bottlenose dolphins must breathe air at least once every seven minutes. Along this coast they do not go very deep and are rarely below 60 feet, usually staying within 30 feet of the surface.
The record depth for any mammal is held by sperm whales, which have been reported to dive down 2,035 meters (1.2 miles). That's holding your breathe a long time!!
We hope to change gators this fall (usually in September) and get 50 new little guys from the gator farm over at Lake Placid.
Have you paid much attention to the clown fish "dancing" around the anemones in the last exhibit in the Sea Hunt area? You can see this in the wild in the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific. The most prolific area include the waters around Papau, New Guinea, where at least 10 species of clown fish have been recorded in a
single location.
There are, of course, other creatures that may be found near an anemone's tentacles. Spider crabs, porcelain crabs, and some species of shrimp may also live beneath an anemone's base. Many crabs (like the decorator crab) have been seen carrying small anemones on their backs as defensive weapons.
6/21/01
There are approximatly 500 dolphins here in Tampa Bay, and the numbers increase by another 500 with transient dolphins (which incidentally are usually larger that the bay dolphins).
There are about 45,000 dolphins in the gulf, and from 600,000 to 1 Million worldwide. Dolphins spend 50% or more of their life just traveling, around 20% feeding and the rest (about 12%) just socializing..what an easy life!!.
"Reproductive senescence" is when a female stops having babies at a certain age and no longer produces young. Studies have shown that female dolphins reproduce their entire lives, unlike members of the whale family and many land mammals.
By the way, both Orcas and Pilot whales are in the dolphin family.
6/13/91
Did you know that there are about 45,000 bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico and from 600,000-1 million in the world?
There are actually 32 species of dolphins (including pilot whales and killer whales) worldwide and 5 species of River dolphins (primarily fresh water).
6/7/01
There are over 275,000 square miles of coral reefs on our planet, and they are as endangered (or more so) than the rain forests.
Did you know that recent studies at the European Oceanological Observatory in Monaco have resulted in a discovery that some brain corals are moved at night by a worm?!
Did you know that most cuttlefish live only for two years or less (approximately 80 worldwide species)??
5/31/01
There are 3 kinds of Lionfish in the exhibit, but do you know how to tell them apart??
First of all the Radiata - the deep red ones (I think of Red Radish!), the lighter, larger ones are the Voltara, leaving the middle sized, red ones as the Antenatta.
Move on down by the clownfish/anemone exhibit. The three kinds of anemones (remember last week when I said only about 10 species have been observed acting as clownfish hosts) are the Carpet anemone - the flat ones (I think that there are three of them).
The greenish one in the center up front is a Long tentacle anemone, and the third kind (two of them) is a Giant anemone.
There are also three kinds of clownfish. Of course, the one we see the most with the orange stripes is the common clownfish.
We also have some Pink skunk clownfish with a pink stripe on them. I am not sure what the third kind is, so will have to find out later.
Some other fish found in the exhibit include Anglerfish, Clown and Picasso triggerfish (Ken Yates loves to use this one as a tongue-twister - It is commonly known as humu humu nuku nuku a pua'a - translated as "fish with a snout like a pig"). It is named after the painter Picasso due to its colorful, seemingly hand painted appearance.
5/24/01
Did you know that the Wolf eel is not a true eel, but a "wolf fish"? Think now, there is another eel in the aquarium that is not really an eel!! Remember?? The Electric eel in the Frights is not an eel, either, but a member of the catfish family, and is found only in fresh water.
There are over 800 species of anemones in the world, but only about 10 species have been observed acting as a host for clownfish. The pairing of Clownfish and Anemones can be found in the Red Sea and Indian and Pacific oceans, where more than ten species of Clownfish have been recorded in a single location.
5/10/01
Here's a sampling of the new animals - Clown Triggerfish, from the Indo Pacific area, which has beautiful various colors; two kinds of Lionfish, again from the Pacific - a Radiata lionfish, and a Volitans lionfish, both of which will eat anything alive that will fit into their mouths; they live in overhangs, caves and ledges.
Two other new creatures that live in the reefs and lagoons in the Indio Pacific are a golden puffer (which is really golden color!!) and is normally solitary and lives on crunchy foods, and the frogfish which, like the lionfish, will eat anything it can get in its mouth; it also is a solitary animal.
All live in reefs or shallow lagoons in places they can hide; are solitary, non-aggressive (even shy) and like to eat crunchy foods.
5/3/01
There are two zebra sharks which are native to the southeast Asia area, and south Africa, including the Red Sea. These sharks are usually resting on the bottom, sometimes standing on their pectoral fins with their mouths wide open facing the current.
They are often accompanied by discfishes and cleaned by blue-streak cleaner wrasses. It is an egg laying shark (oviparous) and does well in public aquariums. The egg cases are purple or brown and about 8 inches long.
The female may lay as many as four single embryo eggs at a time. The zebra shark feeds on snails and crabs, clams, shimp and bony fishes. They are usually solitary, rarely aggregating. It is inoffensive, never having reported to attack a diver.
The other shark is the Pacific Blacktip reef shark. These are found in the tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean, and have spread to the Mediterranean and through the Suez canal. Its normal habitat is in lagoons and along coral reefs.
Along with the Grey Reef shark and the whitetip reef shark the Blacktip is one of the most common species of sharks found in the Pacific ocean. Its diet is mainly small fish. It is potentially dangerous since it has been known to bite the feet and legs of swimmers especially if food is in the vicinity, but never fatally. The female gives birth (live-viviparous) to up to four pups per litter after 16 months of gestation. They will grow to about 5 feet at full growth, the females a little smaller.
The large Pacific octopus is also here.. Did you know those things only live about four years??
4/19/01
re: Nutria - Most of you know that entrepreneurs with delusions of grandeur and millions of dollars imported these animals from South America into Louisiana to start a fur trade during the late 1930's.
Not surprisingly, this fur business went bust. For some reason (which their marketing gurus failed to check), people just didn't want to walk around in nutria skin coats or fur mittens. So - now we are stuck with them in the wild. Finding our climate and waterways to their liking, they have made their home in our lakes, ditches, and ponds.
They are exclusively vegetarian, dining on aquatic plants such as the hydrilla and water hyacinths. There are some found in eastern Hillsborough County, usually seen in groups.
They do make excellent gator food, but do little for human consumption. Some Louisiana cooks have concocted ways to cook them, but it has not caught on much. So these stories you can tell the guests about our "large rats".
Today two more beautiful swimming anemones were added
(and we have ordered more of our other animals for the exhibit). This anemone has a column that is as wide as its height. Usually orange (both of ours are, but different shades of orange) with a white spot at the base of each tentacle. This spot may be scarlet, pink, greenish or sometimes mottled.
The tentacles have white bands. This animal may grow to 5 inches in diameter. These anemones are omnivorous, feeding
on whatever its tentacles can grab, which might be small invertebrates as well as fish. Here we feed them chopped smelt.
Its predators are the leather star and nudibranchs. When the anemone feels the touch of the leather star, it immediately begins to sway back and forth until its base detaches from the sea floor. The anemone will then "dance" through the water in order to distance itself from its enemy (and that's why it is called a "swimming anemone"!).
Did you know that there are over 1000 identified species of sea anemones living in the earth's oceans?. By the way, did you notice the new little seastars in the bays where the octopus was?? These are local, and are brown with darker little spots - Chocolate chip seastars.
4/5/01
One of the seastars we have in the No Bonz is the Short spined sea star. The larger ones have been removed, since they were the most aggressive eaters. They are sometimes known as the Pink Sea Star because of their color. It is one of the largest species reaching 2 feet in diameter with an arm length of 12 inches. It can sense clams buried in the sand and may extend its long arm down through the sand and lift the clam out.
Most of you remember that sea stars move by using their tube feet, operating them with a water vascular system. Water is sucked in and pushed out an orifice on top (seen as a smooth spot, sometimes pale colored) causing the tube feet to extend or provide suction attaching the star to a surface. What is this orifice called? Give up? The madreporite! There are several other speices of seastars in the No Bonz. Stop by and learn the exhibit if you haven't.
3/15/01
Many of you have never noticed the animals in the springs exhibit..commonly known as the aquifer. On the bottom seldom noticed is the most common catfish used for getting rid of the problem algae in the tank - the plecostomus (sucker mouthed) catfish. They are, of course, herbivorous, but do not harm plants.
They are from the Pacific side of Central and South America and get large (up to 24 inches), but do not breed in aquariums. The eggs are spawned on the surface of substrates such as stones or logs. The males care for the eggs, which hatch in 3-5 days.
All of the guests are awed by the large goliath grouper in the beach exhibit. The animal can grow to 800 pounds and is the largest of the grouper family (remember that groupers are salt water and large mouth bass are fresh water, but both are in the same general family).
When our largest one was moved to the Bridges exhibit about 4 years ago, it weighed 165 pounds.
The goliath is almost twice the size of the next largest grouper - the Warsaw grouper, which will grow to about 400 pounds. For the first six to seven years Goliath are inshore fish.
Also, though biologists suspect the Goliath Grouper can reach 800 pounds, the rod and reel record is a 680 pound fish caught in Fernandino Beach, Florida - 20 years ago. They likely just don't get that big anymore. Now that they're protected in Florida waters, though, we are seeing an amazing rebound of this impressive fish, so maybe there's a bigger boomer in your diving future.
And in case anyone asks, you can easily tell a small Goliath Grouper from a big grouper by the shape of the end of its tail. The grouper's tail is straight, the Goliath Grouper's is rounded.
Most groupers start life as females, but depending on population dynamics morph into males as they age. This sex change usually occurs amoung large females. With so few males, females are forced to change their sex to perpetuate the species (studies show that only about 20% of the adult population are males).
Though recent studies show the red, gag, black, scamp and yellowmouth groupers are hermaphrodites, Goliath Grouper and Nassau grouper may be different. They come into this world as different sexes and some stay the same sex throughout their life.
All groupers are carnivores, with large mouths and are noisemakers making a noise similar to a bass drum.
The stone fish, by the way, is a scorpionfish (which closely resembles the ones commonly seen around Florida).
The plecostomus ("folded mouth") catfish is a wily and aggressive fish, and it has all but taken over some of our fresh waters in this area because aquarists have thrown them there over the years once they overgrew their tanks. Take a canoe trip down the Hillsborough when the water's clear and in some areas you'll see hundreds if not thousands of them on the bottom.
3/1/01
The octopus not only uses its "suckers" to grope and move, it also uses them to smell. Each sucker holds thousands of taste cells (up to 10,000 per sucker).
The cells that they use to change colors are called chromatophores. The octopus also has specially adapted cells which it uses to change skin texture, and a separate set of cells.
So all of you can brush up on the facts about cephalopods since we also have some cuttlefish here and will be trying to get some squid, too (all cephalopods--which one did I Forget???) The answer - nautilus!!
More sharks!! The year 2000 had more fatalities than we have had in any year in the 90s with 10 - 3 from Australia, 2 from Tanzania, and single fatalities from Fiji, Japan, New Caledonia, Papua, and the United States (St Pete, FL). In all there were 79 unprovoked attacks (the largest tally since 1958) compared to 58 attacks in 99.
Florida, as usual, led the areas of attacks with 34 - and again, as usual, Volusia County was the leader in Florida with 12 shark incidents, followed by Palm Beach (6) and Brevard counties (4). North Carolina was second in attacks with 5, followed by Calif with 3. However it is noted that nearshore shark attacks are declining at a high rate as a result of overfishing.
2/14/01
Here are some facts about Tampa Bay:
It's the largest open water estuary in Florida - More than 100 tributaries flow into Tampa Bay
More than 200 species of fish are found in Tampa Bay
On average, Tampa Bay is only 12 feet deep. Because it is so shallow, shipping channels have been dredged to allow large ships safe passage. The deepest of these is 43 feet.
Mangrove-blanketed islands in Tampa Bay support the most diverse colonial waterbird nesting in North America, annually hosting 40,000 pairs of 25 species of birds.
2/8/01
A fish that most of us see, but know little about - is the sheepshead. We have always had them in the wetlands area, and have had both adults and juveniles. It is a member of the porgy family and shows up on channel edges and offshore rock piles in and around Tampa Bay in late winter.
Many of you local fishermen have spent time grinding barnacles off of bridge pilings for chum or bait for these good eating panfish. These animals have sheeplike teeth (thus the name) that are very adept at nipping a bait from a hook. In fact the teeth are so strong they can clip a monofilament leader like scissors. They use their teeth to crush through the shells of crabs (little ones make great bait), barnacles, oysters and other small shellfish. They rarely will eat baitfish, which requires a larger mouth and more mobility.
Since they feed by scent, it is also tough to catch them on artificial lures. The best bait is fiddler crabs, shrimp tails, or tube worms. Did you know that sheepshead fish have been known to reach at least 20 pounds?? The current record is 21 pounds 4 ounces, and fish 6-8 pounds are common. But beware of the sharp spines, the best way of dealing with them is to clip them off with shears before you try to filet them.
1/24/01
There are some new fish in Pacific coral as I mentioned last week. To be more specific we have some new spotted hawkfish( the bullies of the reef, according to Sean), some Banggai cardinal fish - a deep blue (comes from the Banggai islands near Borneo), sailfin tang-yellow and black stripes, fire gobies - white with red tails, and a comet fish (the largest fish in the exhibit that hides most of the time in the cave - a darker blue fish with yellow spots..
1/3/01
The gators we have are returned to the gator farm when we are done with them. The business of alligator skins and meat has been growing over the years since it has been perfected. Here in Florida about 350,000 eggs per year (out of about 875,000 laid) are removed from the wild for the farms, and about 17% of these are returned to the wild when they are about 3-4 feet long. Skins are sold for about $100 each and the meat brings about $7 per pound.
One of the newest fads with the skins is watch bands, which are popular around the world. Skins are exported to France, Italy (where most of the watches are made), Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. The meat is popular in most areas of the far east, with the most popularity found in Japan, where it will bring more than $7 a pound.
There are about a dozen alligator hide brokers in the US, the largest trio are found here in Florida.
The Far East is also the market for shark fins, and a bowl of shark fin soup in Tokyo or Hong Kong will cost you about $100.
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Weekly updating by Michael Knudsen,
a volunteer at the Florida Aquarium since 2002 and are provided and maintained as a free service to the outstanding volunteer community & staff of The Florida Aquarium..
