Recent News
Three Recipients: $100,000 Catlin Marine GrantThursday, April 24, 2014
The Catlin Marine Grant evolved from the reef-mapping work undertaken by the Catlin Seaview Survey, a series of worldwide scientific expeditions launched by Catlin in 2012 to document the composition and health of the world’s coral reefs.
Bermuda Aquarium releases Galapagos shark
Thursday, April 24, 2014
A 1.5m/5' Galapagos shark named Desmond has been released back into the wild by the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo.
‘Desmond’ the shark released back into ocean
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
A five-foot Galapagos shark named Desmond has been released back into the ocean by staff at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo.
Opinion: Ethical Question Of Dolphins & Captivity
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Recently there’s been a lot of discussion in Bermuda on the issue of keeping dolphins in captivity; this appears to have been the unintended result of Dolphin Quest announcing the births of two baby dolphins amongst their captive population.
5ft Shark “Desmond” Released From Aquarium
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
As we previously reported, on Good Friday staff at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo [BAMZ] — in conjunction with the research and camera crew of the upcoming television series Ocean Vet – released a five-foot Galapagos shark named Desmond back into the wild, requiring an intricate transportation process from start to finish.
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All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!
Released: 2/29/2012 9:35 AM EST
Source: Dick Jones Communications
Newswise — Sea turtles have long and complex lives; they can live into their 70s or 80s and they famously return to their birthplace to nest. But new research suggests this isn’t the only big migration in a sea turtle’s life.
“We’re starting to realize that developmental migrations -- ones that sea turtles make before they mature -- are even more amazing,” says Dr. Peter Meylan, professor of natural sciences at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. “They only do it one time, but it can be much longer than the reproductive migrations they do as adults and may involve tens of thousands of kilometers.”
Meylan has been tagging and tracking sea turtles with his wife, Anne Meylan of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, and Jennifer Gray and other colleagues from the Bermuda Aquarium. They have compiled the results of long-term capture programs in Caribbean Panama (17 years) and Bermuda (37 years) in a summary paper, “The Ecology and Migrations of Sea Turtles: Tests of the Developmental Habitat Hypothesis,” in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.
“Bermuda is a place where young turtles go to grow up,” Meylan says. “They arrive there after living out in the ocean. In Bermuda waters they grow from about the size of a dinner plate to the size of a wash tub, and then move on to different, adult habitats.”
For example, some green turtles hatched in Costa Rica were spending their “growing up” years thousands of kilometers away in Barbados, North Carolina and Bermuda before heading off to spend their adulthoods near Nicaragua.
Young turtles have already survived hatching from their untended eggs, escaped hungry predators on their rush to the ocean, and have avoided marine predators once there. This research points to developmental migrations as another vulnerable time for sea turtles.
“Tag-return data from this study suggest that this may be another dangerous time for these turtles, and protection as they move into their adult foraging ranges could be a productive objective of policy change for effective marine turtle conservation,” says Meylan.