Yellow Stingray

The yellow stingray (Urobatis jamaicensis), is also sometimes called the yellow spotted stingray. Their range stretches out from North Carolina, to Northern South America. They have an interesting feeding technique. They will lift their front half up so they resemble a cave, then their prey goes right to them thinking that the stingray is a cave.

Mote Intern Camping Trip

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin with Calf

Bottlenose Dolphin

Gopher Tortoise

Last weekend, I and eight other interns from the Mote went camping. We went on a dolphin boat and we got to help identify dolphins. We also went to Rookery Bay and to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. We saw lots of animals, including a huge alligator and a friendly praying mantis.

Bottlenose Dolphins

Bottlenose Dolphin

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Frigate Birds

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Snorkling Pictures

Common Snook (Centropomus undecimalis)

Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis)

Stone Crab (Menippe mercenaria)

A couple of weeks ago, I went snorkeling for the first time off a jetty on Lido. I saw lots of marine animals. These are a few of the better pictures that I took that day.
(you can click on the photos to enlarge.)

Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis)

Common Snook (Centropomus undecimalis)

Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)

Scaled Sardine (Harengula jaguana)

Lesser Butterfly Ray (Gymnura micrura)

Pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides)

Spongy Decorator Crab

The spongy decorator crab (Marcocoeloma trispinosum), is a species of decorator crab. They will put sponges, corals, and other things on themselves to camouflage. The one in the picture has covered himself with mushroom polyps. They stick the camouflage of choice on themselves like Velcro. They have little hook life hairs on their body which helps attach things to them. They will even change what they have on them depending on what is in their environment.

Strate Bubbles

Strate bubbles (Bulla striata) are also called common Atlantic bubbles. Bubbles are gastropods. Bubbles are related to sea hares and nudibranchs. When there foot and mantle are extended, they can completely cover their shell. Unlike most gastropods, they don't have eye stalks; instead their eyes are directly on their head.

Airport Art Contest

Recently, I have been working on a picture for the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport art contest. I have my picture finished, but I could use some ideas on the background. If you have any ideas, please leave a comment on this post. Thanks!
Update- I have sent in my picture with a background. I decided on Blue with green streaks going left to right.

Stingrays, Stingrays, and More Stingrays!

Stingray Under The Sand

 Recently at Lido, there have been a lot of stingrays in the water. They're usually Atlantic stingrays, but we have also seen devil rays again in the water. The first stingray picture is covered with sand which makes it hard to identify. There has also been lots of fish washing up on shore. The ones that I have seen include: lots of cowfish, a grouper, a butterfly ray, and a toadfish. They have been becoming stranded more frequently than usual, probably because of all the recent storms.

Two Atlantic Stingrays

Cownose Ray

The cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) is a species of ray. It gets it's name from the shape of it's head because it looks like a cow's nose. To find their prey, they will either flap there fins to stir up the sand, or they will move the sand around with their snouts. Once they have located there prey, they will rapidly flap their fins to reveal their prey. Cownose rays will migrate by the thousands from the Gulf of Mexico, and up the east side of the U.S.. Their natural predators include cobia and sharks. They are not commercially fished by people. However, the Virginia Sea Grant at VIMS is trying to persuade people to start eating cownose rays because a main part of their diet is oysters. But since cownose rays usually only have one pup at a time, it could cause a decrease in the population like the thylacines did. Cownose rays are commonly kept in touch tanks in aquariums. I don't think that I have ever been to a stingray touch tank where they did not have cownose rays.

Mandarin Dragonet

The mandarin dragonet (Synchiropus splendidus), is a tropical from the family Callionymidae. Mandarin dragonets go by many different names including mandarin goby and mandarin fish. They usually live in small groups in the wild. Mandarin dragonets produce a thick mucus that covers them and is toxic to whatever might try to eat it. Mandarin dragonets will dull in color when they are going to rest at night. Mandarin dragonets are popular in marine pet stores, despite the fact that they are difficult to feed because they eat amphipods and other small invertebrates.

Beach finds

 There finds were found a few weeks ago, but I have had a very busy schedule and have not had much time to post on my blog. The two top photos are the stuff which I kept, and the last photo is the stuff that I either recycled or threw away. The best find that I found that day was the shark tooth necklace in the first picture. It was far from where most people stay when they go to Lido.

Lightning Whelks



Lightning whelks (Busycon contrarium), are gastropods like other whelks and snails. They are called lightning whelks because of the jagged lines on the juvenile's shells. The shells in the picture are small ones. There have been lightning whelks recorded at 15"! Lightning whelks are sinistral or "left handed", compared to most whelks which are dextral or "right handed". The lightning whelk is also the state shell of Texas.

Olive Snails

Olive Snail Shells

Olive snails (Oliva sayana), are gastropods like other snails. The ones in the pictures are lettered olives, there are other varieties too that I do not have pictures of like the netted olive (Oliva reticularis), and several smaller varieties. Lettered olives can grow up to 2 1/2 inches in length. The second olive in the picture is fossilized.

Live Olive Snail

Colorful Moonsnail

The colorful moonsnail (Naticarius canrena), are gastropods. They are uncommon at the beaches that I have been to (that is why I only have one).
Moonsnails prey on  buried bivalves. Their foot is about ten times the size of their shell and is light colored with brown streaks running down it.

Rubber Snakes to Silver Spoons (Another Trip to Lido)

Common Sand Toys

Yesterday we were coming back from a volunteer interview, and we decided to take a trip to the beach. We have not been to the beach recently because of the winter tourists, and because it was so cold the last month. I have not been cleaning up the beach for a while and I have been wondering what could have happened to the beach during our absence. It was a mess! Trash was everywhere! So I began to clean up. I started putting trash in a soda cup that I have been drinking out of only a few minutes earlier.

Strings and Other Long Stretchy Things

Stranger Things to Find on Lido Beach

 But that soon overflowed. Then I found a green bucket which was abandoned, so I started using that. But that too started to fill up quicker than I expected. Then I found a yellow bucket without a handle, and a second bucket made everything much easier because I could separate the keep from the trash. I keep the things that I can either reuse or make something awesome out of. Some of the normal keep things I found were pony tails, plastic sand toys, and a neat ball that I'm sure my sisters will enjoy playing with. The weirder things I found were a feathery flower, two silver spoons, and a rubber snake.
Speaking of rubber snakes, there once was a dolphin who ate a rubber snake that someone discarded. It is really important that trash and other things like toys, do not get left on the beach. (If any of these are yours, and you are near Lido beach, I can give it back to you.)

Ray or Stingray or Skate

Clearnosed skate at the Mote Marine Laboratory

 Sometimes, it is difficult to tell the difference between stingrays, skates and rays. There are about 500 species of rays, stingrays, and skates. Skates are very easy to tell apart from the stingrays and rays. They never have barbs, most have spines on their back and tail, and their tails are much thicker than either the rays or stingrays.



 

Atlantic stingray at the Florida Aquarium

Stingrays and different then rays for many reasons. Stingrays usually are on the sea floor, their barb is farther away from their body, they usually have rounder fins, and stingrays will cover themselves with sand to hide from predators.

Cownose ray at the Mote Marine Laboratory

Rays swim around in the water, their spines are at the base of their tail (accept the devil rays and manta rays who have no spines), they have more "wing-like" fins then stingrays, and their species are easier to tell apart. Like the manta rays, the cownose rays, the spotted eagle rays, and the bat ray. Once you know the differences between stingrays and rays, it will become very easy to tell them apart.