I had the good fortune of being in the water during her introduction, and caught her on film, exploring the G.O.T. waters for the first time. How cool!

-Chris

Start submitting today! If we like your name, we'll put it in an online poll for everyone to vote on. The person who submits the winning name will get a chance to come to the Aquarium next month and help us introduce the new turtle to the Giant Ocean Tank!

Yes, the Aquarium has an entire department dedicated to the health and well-being of all the creatures that call the New England Aquarium home. Comprised of veterinarians, medical technicians, interns, and volunteers, the AHD staff attend to any medical issue that crops up - from a tiny fish with a gas problem, to a 240 lb. shark with spine issues. The department is supported by a state-of-the-art medical facility that allows the vets to perform everything from radiographs (x-rays) to complex surgeries.












AHD staff are always rolling up their sleeves (quite literally) and getting right into the thick of things - even to the point of making house calls into the GOT.





Sometimes, as a result of rounds, we decide to do an animal extraction so the vets can get a closer look. This was recently the case with one of our green moray eels.



In the above video, Sherrie and I tease the eel out of its coral home and into a specially made eel catch bag.



Once out the tank the eel is carefully anesthetized (a great idea for both the eel's AND the humans' sake!) so the vets can obtain radiographs, blood samples and scan her insides with ultrasound.



Here's the ultrasound video:




Of course our wet vets wouldn't live up to their name without sometimes gearing up and going in. Here you can see Keiko, a Veterinary Fellow, and Deana, the AHD Lab Manager, getting a closer look at Retread's eyes to see if she should be pulled for a more detailed examination. Retread, one of our two loggerhead turtles, is a rescued turtle that had sustained damage to her eyesight when she was cold stunned and stranded off Cape Cod years ago.

When restraining a large, powerful, and uncooperative turtle, some creative thought needs to be called for. Carolina is secured in a custom made sling and then suspended from a hoist. This prevents her powerful flippers from getting a purchase on anything.

As you can see, there's a small army of Aquarium medical staff digilently working toward maintaining the health of the Aquarium's aquatic residents, and they even make house calls.

So no, a sick fish definitely does not visit our nurse shark. That would be like Little Red Riding Hood visiting the wolf dressed up as Grandmother...

Happy diving.

- John

subscribe

There are seven species of sea turtles in the world; all are recognized as endangered or threatened. Six of the seven species are found in U.S. waters. Every fall hundreds of tropical and sub-tropical sea turtles end up in Northern waters along the Eastern seaboard. It is not entirely clear why this occurs, but there are two possible theories. Some scientists believe that New England provides an important foraging ground for young sea turtles, and their migration here is deliberate. Others believe small juvenile sea turtles get caught up in the Gulf Stream and their arrival here is involuntary. Either way, when water temperatures drop, many of these turtles suffer from hypothermia, and in some cases severe frost bite. The New England Aquarium's Rescue and Rehabilitation Center is a member of a stranding network that rescues these cold-stunned turtles. Our goal is to nurse them back to health and eventually release them back into the wild.

The Giant Ocean Tank offers a unique opportunity for endangered and threatened sea turtles that have been classified as non-releasable. This 200,000 gallon, 23 foot deep Caribbean reef exhibit provides sea turtles with an ideal habitat in which to live out their lives. Over the past 30 years, loggerheads, Kemp's ridleys, hawksbills, and green sea turtles have thrived in the Giant Ocean Tank. We currently have four sea turtles; two loggerheads (Carolina and Retread), one Kemp's ridley (Scute), and one green sea turtle (Myrtle).

Like all of our animals, they benefit from excellent water quality, sound nutrition and first-rate veterinary care. To ensure the good health of our turtles, we conduct medical exams every summer. This year's exams took place on Wednesday, August 6 and Thursday, August 7. Completing the annual sea turtle exams is an enormous effort, requiring the participation of many individuals from a variety of departments.



Staff biologists (the divers) from the Fishes Department collect the turtles from the exhibit and make sure everything is in place for the exams. Veterinary staff and biologists from our Animal Health Division perform all the diagnostic work, and our Educators interpret the entire procedure for our visitors. The procedure starts with the "turtle catch." Two divers enter the exhibit and gently grasp the turtle under the fore flippers. The turtle is swiftly escorted to the surface of the exhibit and placed into a large box designed specifically for sea turtle removal.



The box is then lifted out of the exhibit and into an adjoining support area with an electronic hoist. The turtle is lifted out of the box and onto a small exam table. Both loggerheads weigh well over 100 pounds, so it can take up to four individuals to accomplish this. Once the turtle is settled on the table, the veterinarians and biologists begin their work.



They begin by weighing and measuring the turtle. They carefully examine the eyes, mouth, flippers and shell, looking for any abnormalities. A blood sample is taken from a vessel on the top of the turtle's neck. The exam is concluded with an ultrasound which enables the vets to get a heart rate and determine if there is any egg development. The turtle is then placed back in the exam box, and returned to the exhibit. Staff divers monitor the animal's behavior for several hours after the exam.

Myrtle, our green turtle weighs around 550 pounds, and is too big for the exam table. Her exam is conducted in the box at the surface of the exhibit. Our loggerheads weighed in at 196 (Retread) and 152 (Carolina). Scute, our little ridley, weighs only 52 pounds. All four turtles are in good overall health, and will likely grace the Giant Ocean Tank for many years to come.

-Sherrie