This morning we headed to City Island Grass Flats in search of manatees. We had a lucky start to the day seeing two manatees very soon after heading out. Once a manatee is spotted we all have jobs to do. Our group is getting quite experienced and quite good at working together and dividing up the tasks. In the pictures below you will see Miss Plante using the refractometer to check the salinity of the water, Gigi using the trolling motor to get us close to the manatees without disturbing them, and Diane calling out the manatee locations while taking some photos of her own. My job today was to do the data recording while Teresa took photographs.
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Our teamwork paid off. We saw 4 manatees in this sighting - a mom with a calf and two sub-adults. One had a very large scar which you can see in the picture below. The sky was a bit overcast today, but Teresa was pleased with the pictures she took. You will remember that to catalogue an animal you must have a series of photographs - right side, left side, a dorsal view, the peduncle, and the fluke. She felt that today's photographs would allow her to fully document and catalogue two animals. The water was a bit murky. It is interesting that sometimes when the water is not clear, it is the scars which enable you to spot the manatees underwater.
In the picture below (if you look very carefully) you will see the calf. Teresa estimated the age of the calf to be about 6 months. The calf was quite a good swimmer for his age. Usually young calves stay very close to their mothers, often riding on their backs, but this one showed a great deal of spunk and independence!
| While we were in City Island Grass Flats we observed a
number of speedboats which were not obeying the posted regulations. I
took pictures of several of them. It was very interesting to see the boats
slow down when they saw me with the camera! I guess the combination of
having a camera and being aboard an official Mote vehicle made them think
twice about their speed! The other day in the same area we saw a speedboat
pulling a skier in clear violation of the law. He was speeding through an
area where we had just seen a manatee. In addition to the potential for
harming manatees with their propellers, boats often disturb the seagrass
beds which serve both as food for manatees and nurseries for many
varieties of fish.
We also observed a tour boat which was taking a group of children on a tour of the bay. It looked like a school field trip and this boat was obeying all the rules! |
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As we are out looking for manatees we also look for any litter. Whenever we see any we use the net on board Merv to pick it up. The Sarasota Bay waters seem quite clean. Yesterday we did pick up some fishing line and today we retrieved a plastic bag. Both of these are potentially dangerous to marine life. |
| When we returned to shore today we had to clean more temperature probes. I was not thrilled about the task, but was glad to have the opportunity to take some pictures to show you what a difficult job it was. These probes are actually not as dirty and encrusted as the ones we worked on yesterday. Note the before and after shots. There was satisfaction in a job well done. How does clean-up in your science lab compare to this? |
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 Here is the Earthwatch team getting to work. |
Done! |
Ready for the next one! |
Tomorrow is a busy day. We will be visiting the captive manatees at Mote. We will have the opportunity to feed them and to see some of the testing which the scientists here are conducting. I hope to be able to take some video of that and send it to you. Until tomorrow....
Before
After
