Turtles, turtles, and more turtles!

With a successful sea turtle nesting season closing at the end of October, things in the Turtle-World of Long Key are anything but slow!

Since the middle of November there have been 2 dead juvenile Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) that have floated up into and around the KML marina. Another Green with fibropapilloma (fp) practically swam right up our boat ramp and was rescued along with a sub-adult Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) that had monofilament fishing line coming out of its mouth and wrapped around the left front flipper.


Green sea turtle with several fp tumors.


Loggerhead sea turtle with fishing line entanglement and ingestion.

Both turtles were picked up by staff from The Turtle Hospital in Marathon and are receiving care for their aliments.

Winter plowing duties at KML

Well it's winter again in the Florida Keys, heralded by those cold fronts and north winds. Dealing with all of the rack accumulation in the marina, at the boat ramp, and the lagoon around our seawater intake is a constant headache.

But Dave and Bill were not to be thwarted! Engineering a Keys version of a marine plow and harnessing the muscle of our little 13' Boston Whaler, they guys pushed loads of rack and weed back out into the Bay. Frustrated snowplow operators?!?

We are happy to report that in spite of the frequent rack accumulation in the Lagoon by the Wet Lab this time of year, the water quality continues to be excellent for our seawater system.

USF Fish Biology Class

Dr. David Mann, from the University of South Florida, brought his Marine Fish Biology class to KML. They spent the week gaining experience identifying fish in various habitats of the Florida Keys.

Captain Bill Ferrell gives a boat safety briefing to students before leaving the dock for a day of snorkeling.

R/V Mola Mola leaving KML marina

Several of the Mann students were AAUS dive certified. They prepared their dive gear aboard the R/V Diodon and listened to KML dive safety protocols with Captain Andrew Crowder before a day of diving. To the Reef!

The group snorkeled over a grass flat to explore fish communities among the roots of a mangrove island. Water temperature 70F! Brrr!

The USF students snorkeled Coral Gardens at dusk to observe the change in fish activity on the reef. Weather was perfect all week and the sunset was spectacular.

Spotted Eagle Rays visit KML

Two juvenile spotted eagle rays (Aetobatus narinari) spent the afternoon cruising around the KML Lagoon last week. The little guys seemed intent on corralling a small school of mullet and took turns darting through the middle of them. One poor mullet had a hole in his side to document the strike!

Clemson students field-test KML Living Laboratory Project

Clemson University and the KML Living Laboratory.

The Clemson University Conservation of Marine Resources creative inquiry team participated in the first biodiversity census of the KML Living Laboratory.

Learning the Biodiversity of the Keys.

The CMR team, under the direction of Dr. Michael Childress, helped set-up and census four biodiversity plots including one in the hardbottom habitat adjacent to the Keys Marine Laboratory.

Learning to Measure Biodiversity.

Graduate student teaching assistant TJ Jordan leads the students through a dry-run of the data collection methods that use line, belt and whole plot census methods to enumerate the density of benthic invertebrates and fishes.

Laying Out a Census Plot

Dr. Michael Childress directed CMR students in the all-important placement of grid lines prior to data collection. He then snorkeled amongst them to answer questions and assist in correctly identifying organisms.

Taking Data While on Snorkel

The CMR students collected data on the type of benthic substrate and the density of sponges, corals, octocorals, anemones, echinoderms, mollusks, crustacaeans, and benthic fishes.

Assessing the Impact of Mass Sponge Mortality

In the fall of 2007, a mass sponge mortality occurred on Florida Bay side of Long Key killing a majority of large sponges such as this ancient loggerhead sponge. The KML Living laboratory project will monitor and document the changes in biodiversity on both impacted and non-impacted sites to assess the impact of this most recent disturbance.

KML Living Laboratory Seeks Volunteers

Classes visiting KML are invited to participate in the KML Living Laboratory project. For more information regarding how to get involved please contact KML staff biologist Cindy Lewis

Do rays modulate their feeding behavior with different prey types?

Samantha Mulvany

University of South Florida
Department of Biology
Tampa, FL

Samantha Mulvany, graduate student under Dr. Philip Motta at USF, spent several days at KML while capturing yellow stingrays (Urolophus jamaicensis) for her research project. Sam is studying the feeding kinematics in a variety of batoid species and is hoping to relate any kinematic findings to their morphology. Some derived batoids have cephalic lobes (lobes on the head) which aid in feeding. It will be interesting to see if having these cephalic lobes increases their ability to modulate feeding behavior or capture more elusive prey. Sam will be running phylogenetic comparisons to explore differences among species and determine any evolutionary correlations.

Bay side of Long Key: seawall overlooking a prime seagrass and hardbottom habitats where rays are typically spotted

A visit from curious local law enforcement while collecting rays

Captured rays were transported back to USF for further behavioral studies.

New dock lights and fresh pearock

Installation of 23 new dock bollards has recently been completed along KML's brand new concrete seawall. Each bollard has a low-voltage top light controlled by a photo-cell, providing ample lighting along the docks throughout the night. Spaced conveniently along the seawall, several of the bollards also have running fresh water for rinsing boats and power outlets (20 amp and 30 amp).View of bollards along the dock in the marina

View from the boat ramp along the north wall of the marina

Dock bollards looking north along the lagoon seawall

New dock bollards along the Lagoon seawall

Another important project at the Lab this Fall was finally grading off and spreading truckloads of fill and gravel to dress up the areas along the seawall and around the wet lab and Shallows. With the area freshly graded and new pea rock spread around the new Lagoon Gear Wash-down gazebo, looking towards the Wet Lab Pavilion

Freshly spread pearock along The Shallows

New KML sign

The Keys Marine Lab has a new look by the office entrance show-casing the new KML logo

Governor Crist at KML

Florida's governor, Charlie Crist, paid a brief vist to KML this week. The Governor and Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Chairman, Rodney Barreto, were on their way to Marathon to assist with the release of a rehabilitated seaturtle. The Lab was a convenient stopping point for Governor Crist to change into more Keys-friendly attire. The Governor took a few moments to chat with staff before continuing on to the Turtle Hospital.

Cindy, Heddy, Lisa, Governor Crist, Dave, Bill, Commissioner Barreto

Long Key Sea Turtle Nesting Season

As the sea turtle nesting season begins to wind down, it is time to look back to see how this season compared to last year.

The Keys Marine Lab's Biologist Andrew Crowder and his wife, Whitney, a ranger at Long Key State Park have monitored the beaches of Long Key again this year from April 15th until the end of October. This year they even added the Keys youngest sea turtle surveyor to the team, their son Finlee who will be 6 months old in a few days.

The first nest was laid right before the end of April, which was earlier than either of the last two previous years of monitoring, and there have even been crawls as late as the middle of this month. Last year the last crawl occurred at the beginning of July.

There haven't been any tropical storms or hurricanes that have seriously affected the Keys to date, knock on wood, but the raccoons have been busy again destroying all the eggs in 3 nests out at the point in the park. There have also been challenges for the sea turtle hatchlings with disorientations due to lighting, but all in all the nesting has been successful.