VLM/CNU/Duke Trip

This April 6th - 8th, aquarist Sarah Peake and I accompanied Dr.Brown's Marine Ecology class from CNU to the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, North Carolina. They go for a fun and hopefully experience an educational field trip; we go to provide some expertise when needed and to collect live specimens for their lab session.

Sarah prepares the wet lab for specimens

The first day was too windy to trawl aboard the Susan B Hudson, so the class instead went to the mud flats adjacent to the lab to pull a small seine net, sift through the sediment, poke around in the marsh grass and generally have some fun. It was a little cool (and windy) but they did a good job of finding some specimens. Sarah and I were also able to find some colorful sea whips to decorate our sea horse exhibit; we added these to the students' collections and set them all up in the flow through wet lab. Afterwards everybody got cleaned up settled in our dorm-rooms at the lab.

The Susan B Hudson 

Thankfully, the next day was much calmer and warmer. After a behind the scenes tour of the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, conducted by my friend and colleague Curator Brian Dorn, we all met at the docks for a half day of trawling and dredging. Sarah assisted the first mate pulling the trawl and dredge and after each tow, also helped me identify the animals we caught for the students and collect a few samples of each specimen to be held temporarily in the wet lab. We all enjoyed the time in the sun aboard the vessel and the peaceful ride back to the docks.

The sea always inspires deep thoughts in Sarah

The students await the contents of the trawl

Sarah and I released all the specimens after they had been successfully identified, classified and recorded by the class; they ranged from a smooth butterfly ray to sea spiders to margined sea stars - and of course our sea whips. The Duke trip has become somewhat of a tradition which the VLM staff always enjoy and hopefully the students and professors do as well. And on the last day Sarah finally got to see the famous wild horses of Shackelford Banks! Can't wait until next year!

Jillian Swinford: My experience as VLM Aquarium Intern

My name is Jillian Swinford and I volunteer at the Virginia Living Museum as an Aquarist Assistant.  I currently go to school at Christopher Newport University and am majoring in Environmental Biology with the hopes to go into Marine Biology, somehow, and the VLM has been a good place to start.  I had been volunteering for half a year at the touch tank when the opportunity arose for me to work behind the scenes in aquariums, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of the tasks I do involve cleaning tanks and feeding the animals, as well as doing water chem, but now I am determined to either get in one of the exhibits or go out collecting, which I think I should be able to do both soon. Hopefully. My favorite thing to do here is attempt to feed the turtle, however, he/she isn't always the easiest to work with and sometimes we get annoyed with each other. I also love to go and feed the seahorses...they are always so adorable.  Probably one of the coolest experiences I've had here was when I got to go release some flounder at Yorktown beach...I hope to have more of those experiences or go out collecting.  I am glad that I have had this opportunity and have learned so much, and I am coming back next semester (and the rest of next year) to work again. I know, crazy, however, it's probably one of my favorite parts about being down here during the school year! I mean, how many other people can tell their friends that the feed a shark and a turtle on a weekly basis?

Jillian with Sea urchin

Jillian with various cleaning supplies

Seahorses and blue crab switch places

 The "new" seahorse exhibit ready to go

We recently upgraded the life support system for the exhibit previously known as "blue crab" to improve the filtration and flow to ultimately display seahorses in that exhibit. The blue crab will then be on display in the old "sea horse" exhibit. There were several reasons for the switch, but the main one is that the new seahorse exhibit is a considerably more attractive exhibit space and we will be able to display them now in a more natural context; specifically there is enough light and space for live marine plants, and the previous exhibit had interior rock work that was not representative of their natural habitat. Also, the new exhibit allows visitors to view these reclusive creatures from all sides, while still providing enough plant cover for them to feel secure.

Lined seahorse in our holding/breeding enclosure

VLM Sea Turtle Physical

Yesterday, the Virginia Living Museum's loggerhead sea turtle was given a physical examination.  The sea turtle was taken out of the Chesapeake Bay exhibit in order to get both a visual inspection and an internal examination.  The procedure went smoothly and the turtle was under little stress as she was moved out of the aquarium. Our sea turtle was placed into a tub that was attached to a winch that lowered her down to ground level. Once she was dropped down, everyone jumped into action.  We placed the turtle on a scale and found out she weighs 60 lbs! She has grown nearly 50 lbs since we acquired her in October, 2010! We also measured her carapace as shell diameter (22 inches) and length (25.5 inches).  After her measurements were done, we placed the turtle on a table made specially for her. Some of us were ensuring that she was comfortable while the veterinarians performed a visual inspection. This included looking for any lesions, making sure the carapace was healthy, and checking her limbs and joints.  We also took measurements. Our vet Dr. Bob George said she looked good and healthy from the outside; so far so good!
Next, the sea turtle had her blood drawn.  This was exciting for the Aquarists here at VLM, because this may tell us whether or not she is actually a girl (we have been referring to our sea turtle as a female, but sea turtles are not sexually dimorphic). The blood was drawn from the top of the turtle's neck. At this point, we placed a wet towel over her head to ensure that she remained calm when the vet was around her face.  The blood was drawn and placed in a vile that will be shipped to a laboratory for analysis; a report will be sent to our vet tech Linda Addison that will indicate any potential nutritional deficiencies and hopefully the results of its hormone levels will reveal the sea turtle's sex.
Lastly, the vet wanted to perform an ultra sound on her. Since she was remaining so calm, we figured it would not be an issue to look further. He first rubbed jelly onto her neck and looked at all of her sinuses, which all looked clear and healthy. He then placed the probe underneath the back flipper, which helped him look at her intestines and other internal structures.

 The sea turtle being placed into the tub by Aquarium Curator, Chris Crippen.

The sea turtle being dropped down by winch, where Aquarist Jon Meade met her.

 Jon and Chris placing her on the scale to check her weight.

 Dr. George performing a visual inspection.

 She receiving an ultrasound from our vet tech, Linda Addison.

 Dr. George telling us everything looks great!

 Our sea turtle being calm while getting her check-up

 She was a good sea turtle!

Everything looked great and she is a healthy sea turtle! After the procedure was done, we lifted her back into the tub and used to winch to lift her back into the aquarium.  Once the tub was placed back in the water, she swam out and back into the exhibit. She was a good patient and exhibited little stress! Good job VLM sea turtle!   

By: Sarah Peake, Aquarist

Crayfish exhibit

Our "crusty crustaceans" exhibit, which was supposed to be a temporary tank in the Discovery Center, was finally taken down after three successful years and replaced with...crayfish! I know, not a dramatic change and of course they are also crustaceans, but they are cool anyway. We also added a highly modified magnifying glass - to make it indestructible to kids and to protect the exhibit from scratches or worse - that visitors may use to more closely observe the crayfish. Over the years we have had crayfish from various sources, or collected them for fun, but have never formally displayed them. They have been added to permanent exhibits such as Woodland Pond and Mountain Stream, but they are rarely seen and often wander around the museum at night. I have found them at check in heading east from the pond, west from the pond and half-way down the spiral staircase. We also have housed brilliant blue and vibrant red crayfish for years in quarantine (pictured below). The ones currently on exhibit (bottom photo) are native and not so visually dramatic or (hopefully) as adventurous as their predecessors, but cool nonetheless. 

Underwater Video - 11am trout feeding

I have been enjoying the underwater camera a great deal. The image quality is excellent and I have had no leakage issues yet. I have immersed it in several exhibits, but my favorites so far are the mountain stream, the dives in CBA and above and below footage of our public trout feeding. Here is a video of aquarist Sarah Peake throwing in about a cup of trout pellets in one portion of the our 20,000 gallon Mountain Cove/Stream/Lake habitarium. The upper portion showcases a large waterfall that falls into a pool of very large brown trout. The next section is the stream portion that houses hundreds of darters, dace, shiners, and many other stream species including a brook lamprey and ten Roanoke logperch. This portion she is feeding contains approximately 12 brook trout and 10 rainbows, both of which breed on exhibit in both spring and fall. I began the video above the water and submerged the camera into the "feeding frenzy". I did not have enough sense to put on a glove and was therefore bitten - as was the camera - but we are both OK! Enjoy!

Waterfall in Mt Cove Habitarium

Balloonfish says hello!

As promised, here is one of many new underwater videos. This video was captured with a Panasonic DMC-TS3 underwater digital camera. The great thing about this camera is that it does not change the lighting and/or coloration of the underwater image, and instead captures the image as you see it. This video is of our balloonfish (Diodon holocanthus) in the Puffer exhibit. Many of our guests expect the balloonfish and striped burrfish (Chilomycterus schoepfi) to puff up when frightened. However, the fishes in this exhibit, as well as all other tanks, are acclimated in quarantine and exposed daily to the public view, and are very much accustomed to people passing by. The balloonfish and his friend, the striped burrfish, are too brave to puff themselves anymore. In this video, the balloonfish is interacting with the camera in a very friendly way. Enjoy!

Video taken by Patrycja Lawryniuk