Aquariums Partner In An Effort To Reproduce Jellyfish For World-Class Sea Turtle Rescue Program
Santa Marta, Columbia is home to the Mundo Marine Aquarium, which also runs a highly substantial sea turtle rescue program. Housing approximately 500 sea turtles within its facilities, feeding these massive animals is a difficult undertaking, and that’s where the Maritime aquarium comes in. David Hudson and Rachel Stein from the aquarium specialize in cultivating jellyfish, which constitute a large portion of the diet of Caretta caretta, many of which live at the Mundo Marine Aquarium. Using their expertise, they travled to Columbia and collected buckets of jellyfish from the beach with the help of the fisherman, who had snagged many inside their fishing nets. They then returned to the Mundo Aquarium to demonstrate to staff how to successfully reproduce the lantern jellyfish, the species that is safer for neonate turtles to consume. With this new valuable skill in hand, Mundo Marine Aquarium is well on it’s way to beginning a colony of lanterns to provide a natural and sustainable food source for their resident sea turtles.
Turtle News From Around the World
Conservation
USA: Preparing for upcoming nesting season
AU: Advocating for local turtle safety
Quebec: Non-profit finishes turtle safety corridor
Health & Medical
USA: Injured sea turtle recovering at rehab center
CA: Frozen turtle makes successful recovery
USA: Painted Gopherus polyphemus rescued and released
Miscellany
USA: Students attend committee meeting regarding Glyptemys muhlenbergii status
USA: Chelydra serpentina presence spurs warnings
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Photo from David M. Hudson.
