The WFSU Ecology Blog
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A Geologist’s View of the Apalachicola River |...
Upper Chipola River Kayak Adventure | Ghosts &...
Tate’s Hell & the Apalachicola River Delta |...
Kayak Scouting Mission on the Ochlockonee Water Trail
Merritt’s Mill Pond | Kayaking and Spring Caves

The WFSU Ecology Blog

  • Home
    • About
    • EcoAdventures
      • Kayak and Canoe Adventures
      • Hiking
      • Wildlife Watching
    • Observations From the Field
      • White Pelicans Visit Dr. Charles L. Evans Pond in Tallahassee
      • An April Walk at Ochlockonee River WMA
      • Nesting Raptors at Honeymoon Island State Park
    • WFSU Public Media Home
  • Documentaries
    • In Their Words: Black Legacy Communities in North Florida
    • EcoCitizen Show | Seasons in South Tallahassee
    • Red Wolf Family Celebrates First Year at the Tallahassee Museum
    • Roaming the Red Hills
    • Oyster Doctors
    • Testing the Ecology of Fear
    • EcoShakespeare
    • Stories from the Apalachicola
    • Classic WFSU Ecology Documentaries
  • Habitats
    • Estuaries
      • Oyster Reef
        • The Effects of Predators and Fear on Oyster Reefs
        • Apalachicola Oyster Research
        • Animal Species in a North Florida Intertidal Oyster Reef
        • Oyster Reef Ecology | On the Reef
      • Salt Marsh
        • In the Grass- Salt Marsh Biodiversity Study
        • Plants and Animals of a North Florida Salt Marsh
        • Salt Marsh Ecology | In the Grass
      • Seagrass Bed
        • Predatory Snails, and Prey, of the Bay Mouth Bar Seagrass Beds
      • In the Grass, On the Reef Glossary
    • Waterways Big and Small
      • Aucilla/ Wacissa Watershed
      • Apalachicola Basin
        • Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines | Virtual Field Trip
        • The Age of Nature Screening & Discussion | The Future of the Apalachicola
        • Apalachicola River and Bay
        • Apalachicola RiverTrek | Kayaking, Camping, & Hiking the River Basin
    • Longleaf Pine & Fire Ecology
  • Backyard Habitat
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      • The Backyard Bug Blog 2018
    • Backyard Flora and Fauna
      • Bees of North Florida and South Georgia
      • The Seasonality of Bees (and Bee Plants) in North Florida
      • Woody Vines of North Florida
      • Flies of North Florida are More Diverse than You’d Think
      • The Case for Weeds, Our Unsung Florida Native Plants
      • Devil’s Walkingstick: Your New Favorite Thorny Pollinator Plant?
      • Florida Native Milkweed | Tips for Growing Your Monarch Friendly Garden
      • Mistletoe | A Parasite for the Holidays (But Maybe We Like it Anyway?)
    • Florida Friendly Seasonal Planting Guide
    • Pollinator and Gardening Posts
    • Gardening Web Resources
Oyster Reef Ecology | On the ReefSalt Marsh Ecology | In the GrassWildlife in North Florida- Critters Big and Small

Video: Turtles, Octopus, & Crabs at the Gulf Specimen Lab

by Rob Diaz de Villegas December 5, 2013
by Rob Diaz de Villegas December 5, 2013 0 comment

Video: Critters galore at the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea

Rob Diaz de Villegas WFSU-TV
Jack Rudloe feeding Nurse Sharks at Gulf Specimen Marine Lab

Gulf Specimen Marine Lab founder Jack Rudloe feeding nurse sharks.

If there’s one thing we have learned in 3-plus years of doing this project, it’s that everything eats blue crabs.  If you’ve watched our videos over the years, you’ve seen a gull eating one on Saint George Island.  You’ve seen (and heard) a loggerhead turtle crunch into one.  And in the video above, two octopi wrestle for the tasty treat at the Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea, Florida (That turtle shot was taken there as well, a few months back).  Lab founder Jack Rudloe spent some time with us, feeding sharks, hermit crabs, and various fish species.  It gave us a great chance to see many of the species that we cover in this blog, and many that we don’t, in action.

In the 50 years since Rudloe founded Gulf Specimen, the facility has served an eclectic range of services.

Its aquarium features many of the small critters that we’ve chronicled Randall and David studying in Alligator Harbor, Saint Joseph Bay, or Wakulla Beach.  You won’t see any orcas doing backflips for a fish treat.  These are the creatures of our coasts, many of them common (like fiddler crabs), some of them rare (like a white blue crab).  If it’s safe to touch the animals, you can (consult the signs on the tanks).

Loggerhead at Gulf Specimen Marine LabFor almost as long as its been open, Gulf Specimen has run a Sea Turtle Program to rehabilitate injured loggerhead and Kemp’s Ridley turtles.  They release 15-20 a year, many of which have swallowed fishing hooks.  The turtle in the aforementioned video is Allie the Loggerhead, released after a year in their care (full story here).  The loggerhead that tries to eat our GoPro camera in the video above is Little Girl, who is on display right now.

And then there’s the reason the lab was originally created, to provide specimens of animals to researchers, both medical and academic.  This keeps animals coming in and going out, so that the critter lineup remains somewhat fluid.

In their outreach in education initiatives, their goals mirror our own on the In the Grass, On the Reef project, only in a more up close and tactile manner.  They want you to know about the critters and their habitats, the threats facing them, and the benefits they provide us.  With their Seamobile, they can take that mission (and the critters) on the road to events like the St. Marks Stone Crab Festival.  After people crack open their claws, they could go and learn about the world their food had inhabited.  After the last year we have learned that this food only gets on your plate when there is a balance between these animals and their environmental conditions.  Sometimes, that balance is off, whether it is an overabundance of oyster drills in Apalachicola or, as we see in the video, octopus in crab traps.  It’s one thing to hear that crabs are being eaten.  It really comes alive, though, when you see it happening.  That’s mission we share with the Gulf Specimen Lab.

Over the next few months, we’ll be seeking out others who work to bring the big, wild, messy outdoors to you.  Is there anyone that you think we should be talking to? Let us know!

What is that octopus hiding under its tentacles?

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Rob Diaz de Villegas

Rob Diaz de Villegas is a senior producer for WFSU-TV, covering outdoors and ecology. After years of producing the music program OutLoud, Rob found himself in a salt marsh with a camera, and found a new professional calling as well. That project, the National Science Foundation funded "In the Grass, On the Reef," spawned the award winning WFSU Ecology Blog. Now he spends time exploring north Florida's forests, coasts, waterways, and the endlessly fascinating ecosystem that is the backyard garden. Rob is married with two young sons, who make a pretty fantastic adventure squad.

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iNaturalist became a part of the WFSU Ecology Blog during the EcoCitizen Project in 2019.  Since then, we’ve used it to help identify the many plants and animals we see on our shoots.  And on the Backyard Blog, we show how it can be used to identify weeds and garden insects, to help figure out what’s beneficial or a possible pest.  Below is the iNaturalist profile belonging to WFSU Ecology producer Rob Diaz de Villegas.

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