"Winter jelly-fishing" Lion's mane and Mushroom cap jelly collecting with videos

Mushroom cap jelly Rhopilema verrilli on exhibit

Mushroom cap jelly on exhibit

We attempt to mimic the seasonality of the Chesapeake Bay species through our exhibits whenever possible. The assemblage of fish species varies greatly during the year, but so do many other groups of animals; each local jelly species is associated with a particular time of year, or more accurately, water temperature. The onset of cooler water temps in late Fall/early Winter - usually below 50 F - triggers the return of the "winter jellies" or Lion's mane jellies Cyanea capillata which we gladly display at the VLM. This is the largest jelly species in our area, and the most colorful. Their name describes the furry mane-like lower bell structure that can be vivid crimson, pink, and peach that makes them a striking species on display.

Lions mane 

Most of the year we house sea nettles, which are the most common and frankly disliked jelly in our area, due to their frequent contact with swimmers. Sea nettles thrive in warmer waters and are an attractive species, but nowhere near as interesting or impressive as large colorful lion's mane. So each Holiday season, we anticipate their appearance and look forward to some quality "jelly-fishing" ala' Sponge Bob and Patrick. We have an excellent spot at historic Yorktown, and this year have been fortunate to have nearly 70 degree weather. 

Scanning the water for jellies - someone has to do it.

One more for the exhibit

Along with the unseasonably warm weather this year (is there really "normal" weather?), there has been an unusually large number of mushroom cap jellies Rhopilema verrilli. We have never seen this species in significant numbers, but there have seen quite a few this year and several very large specimens nearly 20 inches across! Such large jellies are impractical to display and likely would not thrive on exhibit, but this year we took the opportunity to display some of the smaller mushroom caps we saw (approx 10 inch bells) along with the lion's manes. Their bells and lower bodies are much more rigid than lion's mane making their movement less fluid with a quicker pulse than the lion's manes. They also have lower mouth/arms that look like clusters with gastric pouches beneath in lieu of elaborate, flowing tentacles. So far both have fed well and make for an interesting contrast in shape, movement and structure. 

New Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy), walleye and flathead catfish

One of our two new muskie on exhibit

A muskie (the one pictured above) eats a 11" trout

We recently accompanied a Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) survey crew led by Biologist George Palmer, in the hopes of obtaining a muskellunge or "muskie" for our Mountain Lake exhibit. Adult muskie are truly impressive animals and can grow to nearly 5 feet long, but are notoriously elusive creatures so many people have never even seen one. Many fisherman and fish enthusiasts - like myself - can spend a lifetime having never caught one because of their finicky eating habits and unpredictability. They are ambush predators and lie motionless until unsuspecting prey meanders by. Using a heavily muscled, elongated body and armed with a duck-bill mouth full of spiky teeth, muskie can take down some serious prey. Aside from other fishes, they have been known to eat muskrats, frogs, snakes and even ducklings.

The duck-like bill of muskie hide some serious teeth

Biologist George Palmer (far left) and his crew

We met on the Upper James River where Mr. Palmer and his crew were scheduled to survey the river to get an idea of the fish species and their relative numbers that inhabit the river. There were plenty of catfish, good numbers of smallmouth bass and walleye, and of course muskie.

Several species of fishes (walleye in hand) were all weighed and recorded, then released unharmed.

Along with the muskie, we took advantage of our opportunity to also take a pair of walleye and a flathead catfish. The walleye is a large member of the perch family and is a very popular food and game fish in the Midwest, but not too common in VA. The flathead catfish may be best known for the species that some people go "noodling" for; a practice best described as finding a log, hole or tube that a flathead catfish has taken up residence - usually by feeling around in muddy water in rivers - then when you locate a flathead, you jam your hands in its mouth and pull it out of its hiding place.

The flathead catfish being measured above, now resides in our Cypress Swamp exhibit (below).

We'd like to thank VDGIF for allowing us the opportunity to join them on the river and specifically for helping us acquire these unique fishes for the public - and us - to enjoy.

Seahorse genetics project

        The VLM is part of the lined seahorse SSP (Species Survival Plan), as part of the goal to "cooperatively manage specific, and typically threatened or endangered, species populations" by breeding seahorses at our facility and sharing/exchanging surplus with other institutions involved in the SSP. A major part of any SSP is research and the sharing of information regarding the species as well. Researcher Nancy Ho of the Vero Beach Marine Lab at Florida Institute of Technology heads a project that investigates the population dynamics and genetic diversity of lined seahorses in the wild; a project the VLM supports financially and helps to provide DNA samples from wild seahorses native to our area. 

A male seahorse (notice the pouch) is measured just prior to a fin clipping

        Whenever we are in the field and capture a seahorse, we record our collection location (co-ordinates, body of water) and retain the animal to get a tissue sample when we get back to the VLM. These wild sea horses have their own holding system specifically for this project, so they do not mingle with our captive bred population to insure that we can identify them as wild caught and that they don't interbreed. 

Sea horses like to stick together; here 8 of them lock tails on one small plant

        Samples are taken in a painless and non-invasive manner; we simply clip a 2 mm portion off the dorsal fin and save the fin clipping in ethanol. The entire procedure takes less than 30 seconds, causes the animal no pain, no loss of blood, and will grow back in a matter of weeks. The fin clipping is then sent to FIT, where Nancy can extract the DNA and determine what population the sea horses are part of. The wild seahorse can then be released back into the wild. Thus far we have submitted 17 samples for analysis and will hopefully be able to provide many more samples for her research.

Note the long fleshy appendages on their heads and along the backs

        Meanwhile the teenagers from our captive bred population are getting larger each day. They have graduated from Cyclopeeze and artemia to chopped mysis as well. this particular batch is extremely "branchy"(see picture and below); lots of long fleshy appendages, especially around the head. When these teenage horses are large enough and are trained to eat whole mysis from a feeding station, we will put them on exhibit. 
                                                            

Some of these guys are very ornate

                                                                                
                                                                                                                                     

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Yesterday morning, animal keeper/trainer Carrie Bridgman found a lethargic and seemingly dazed  ruby throated hummingbird inside the River Otter exhibit. She brought the beautiful little creature inside our husbandry building to allow the otters into the exhibit without them having contact with it.  

It was immediately sheltered in a bucket with a baby blanket inside and another covering the top to give it some peace to rest and to hopefully allow it to recover enough to be re-released as soon as possible. I have experience with hummingbirds and volunteered (who wouldn't?) to monitor it's health. The first step being warmth on a cool spring morning and re-hydration - if necessary. As I prepared some warm sugar water for it, I heard it stirring inside the bucket. Knowing the fragile nature of this species and following the first rule of animal care - first do no harm - I wanted to make sure it did not injure a wing, so I immediately took it to a protected outdoors area behind the museum  in case it began to flap around or hopefully fly away; avoiding an injured or broken wing is the immediate concern. The hummingbird was going no-where for the moment, and simply rested with eyes closed. I then wanted to offer some water/sugar mix from a 1 cc syringe in case it needed some fluids. Aquarist Patrycja Lawryniuk thankfully was able to capture the little fella on camera. 

Just out of the bucket; a little subdued but content

It began to take solution slowly at first, but then very greedily. Thankfully the late spring sun came out just at the right time.

The refreshments and warm sun called for a short nap 

After 15 minutes or so of intermittent rest/feeding, it become much quicker moving and more alert. Eventually it took no more solution, looked around rapidly and flew into some nearby columbine.

It seemed to gather strength and become more alert minute by minute...

It then fed in nearly every flower for several minutes...

 flitting around faster and faster, and then it was gone, after a brief but ultimately successful encounter that I wont soon forget. 

Our new "Oyster Reef Ecosystem" exhibit: striped burrfish, blennies, skilletfish, spider crabs, etc.

Oyster reefs are one of the most productive habitats in the Chesapeake Bay; hundreds of species of aquatic plants and animals grow on and among their shells. The oysters themselves improve water quality and clarity by filter-feeding sediment and plankton out of the water while the natural accumulations of oysters that have settled upon the shells of their previous generations - essentially what constitutes "oyster reefs"- also serve as natural breakwaters that protect shorelines from erosion.

A live oyster reef 

Last April, we partnered with Professor Russell Burke of Christopher Newport University to help him construct one of many artificial reefs he has installed throughout the Bay to help promote settlement and growth of the American Oyster in the wild. Wild oyster populations in the Bay are at an all-time low due to decades of over-fishing. The most critical current obstacles to their recovery are excess nutrients and excessive siltation that smothers the reefs and spat - or young oysters. By placing specially designed concrete "castles" and "diamonds" in strategic positions, spat can settle above the mud, and can now build one-on-another in an ever expanding reef.

"Before" Oyster castle with no oyster growth

"After" Colonized oyster castle

Last month, we constructed an exhibit to represent the "before" and "after" of an artificial reef. The left of the exhibit displays an unsettled diamond while the right side displays a diamond from an artificial reef Dr. Burke placed in the Bay seasons ago; the results are striking. Every square inch of surface area on the "after" diamond is completely covered in massive adult oysters and mussels, as pictured above. All of these shells in turn host: sponges, bryozoans, algae, amphipods, isopods, worms, crustaceans, and a large variety of fishes. It is a complete ecosystem in miniature!

Striped blennies Chasmodes bosquianus are among 

the fishes living inside the oyster reef, 

along with feather blennies Hypsoblennius hentz.

Naked gobies Gobiosoma bosci live in the nooks 

and crannies of the reef.

Striped burrfish Chilomycerus schoepfi zoom about, 

picking at invertebrates in the oyster reef. 

Grey snapper Lutjanus griseus are effective predators of 

smaller fishes and inverts.

Oyster toadfish Opsanus tau are a stealthy ambush predator 

that often bury in substrate beneath the reef. 

Like the oyster toadfish, mantis shrimp Squilla empusa will hide in tunnels 

  they've dug around the rock, and ambush any prey that come along. 

Hermit crabs (long clawed on top, striped below) are 

very common scavengers in oyster rocks. 

A common spider crab (Libinia emarginata) decorates 

himself with pieces of a beard sponge to blend into its environment. 

By displaying the tangible results of the restoration work, and the richness of the species that rely on them - not to mention the commercial worth of the oysters to humans - we are displaying what is at stake besides the fate of the oysters themselves: the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Once known for its natural riches, it is increasingly known for being a system badly out of balance; a system in which the American oyster once lay at the very heart.

Lion's Mane Jellies video Cyanea capillata

The VLM displays a variety of jelly species: moon jellies, sea nettles and lion's mane. Fortunately for us, we are surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Several species of jellies are native here and tend to follow salinity and temperature conditions that best suit them. because of the large seasonal fluctuations and the different preferences of different jelly species, each season is dominated by one main species. Winter in the bay is prime time for lion's mane jellies. When the water temperature dips below 50 degrees F - usually by mid-December - they appear seemingly out of nowhere.

A large lion's mane jelly in our exhibit

Lion's mane jellies have many long hair-like tentacles

Ice coats the jetty below the Coleman Bridge, Yorktown, VA

But actually their ephyrae, or juvenile form had already arrived and has been feeding and growing, morphing into the full blown medusa or adult jelly stage that most people recognize. The adult species of lion's mane jellies that frequent our area rarely get larger than a foot or so across and several feet long (still a big jelly), but in other parts of the world, lion's mane jellies can grow a bell over 6 feet across with tentacles stretching over 100 feet - the largest jelly species in the world! 

This lion's mane jelly on exhibit has a 5 inch bell and tentacles ~ 16 inches long

Each winter we anticipate arrival of the lion's manes and carefully monitor water temperatures in the nearby York River. We also have a network of members, staff, and volunteers of the VLM that report when they begin to see them. Perhaps the only jelly collector most people have ever heard of is SpongeBob SquarePants, but our staff is also out there with specialized "jelly" nets ready to collect wild jellies to augment our live collection throughout the year. Because of their size and beautiful colors, lion's mane are particularly desirable for exhibition. Unfortunately, January can be pretty cold on the water and this week was especially brutal. With air temps in the teens and wind chill near zero, it had better be worth it - and it was. We caught enough wild jellies to switch our exhibit from primarily sea nettles to lion's manes and will continue to display them and collect them throughout the winter.

 Sea nettles are more recognizable because they are here in the summer and are known for stinging swimmers. They even have a NOAA website dedicated to predicting their presence inshore.

Moon jellies do have tentacles, though they are much shorter than either nettles or lion's mane

Ctenophores or comb jellies are harmless and often luminesce at night

Like most jellies, lion's manes use their stinging tentacles to ensnare and subdue prey. In this area, they feed on virtually anything that becomes entangled in their tentacles as they flow behind the travelling jelly; it could be anything from zooplankton to small fishes. Here at the VLM we hand feed them daily a mix of Artemia nauplii and diced seafood such as shrimp, squid, or scallops. They will be on display throughout the winter and spring, when we will start gearing up for sea nettle season.