Conservation 2
​Abstracts

Watch Videos ​(Login required)​​

TRAINING GIANT MANTA RAYS, MOBULA BIROSTRIS, FOR
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION EFFORTS

Alyse Stitt

Georgia Aquarium
Full Abstract
Over the past decade, the Ocean Voyager team has advanced the training of our population of Giant Manta Rays, Mobula birostris. This presentation addresses the use of training techniques to combine initiatives between the Zoological and Research and Conservation departments at Georgia Aquarium. By taking advantage of a positive reinforcing scenario with divers, the team was able to introduce tactile to the ventrum of our resident male individual, “Blue” to stimulate calm behavior while divers successfully deployed a satellite tagging device via active suction. These novel tagging techniques will be further developed for use in the field on their counter parts in the ocean. Future plans include further advancement of this technique to encourage the rays to participate in their own healthcare, including blood collection.
Raising Rip: From Conception to a Year of Age
for a Sand Tiger Shark
​(Carcharius taurus).

Stacia White

Ripley’s Aquarium
of Myrtle Beach
Full Abstract
Sand tiger sharks (STS), Carcharias taurus, are a popular and one of the more common large sharks displayed in public aquariums. They often live for 10-15 years in managed care situations, with survival times reported well over 20 years. During a relatively long life on display female STSs go through many reproductive cycles but rarely become pregnant. Although there have been several successful pregnancies for sharks maintained in flow through systems around the world, there are no reports of a successful conception and live birth having occurred in the U.S. in either an open or closed system. Starting in 2015 Ripley's Aquariums initiated an ongoing effort to induce pregnancy in its STS collection through the use of artificial insemination (AI). Initial AI procedures were completed with cycling females maintained at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, TN, as well as a holding facility in Buffalo, NY. During 2020, the AI research expanded to include STSs maintained in a newly constructed 214,000-gallon tank in Myrtle Beach, SC, to support STS reproduction. Semen was collected from males in the system or from SC coastal catch and release in situ males. Inseminated females were passively monitored for changes in size and shape. Ten months post-insemination, the females were examined using ultrasonography to determine pregnancy status. A STS inseminated on May 5, 2021 was determined to be gravid with one young developing in the right uterus. On March 1, 2022, the gravid female was sequestered in a nursery area in preparation for parturition. Reports in the literature estimate a gestation period of 280-290 days for STSs. When the gestation period reached 303 days, the female was evaluated ultrasonographically and the young was confirmed live and determined to be pre-term based on length and gut contents. The female and young were re-evaluated after approximately 3 weeks and the neonate was manually delivered on March 24, 2022. The female was immediately returned to the main population and the neonate remained in the nursery area. The total gestation time was 322 days. After a brief period alone in the nursery pen the neonate, nicknamed "Rip", was placed in a 14,000-gallon holding tank with a variety of small sharks and rays. In addition to morphometrics obtained at birth, Rip was weighed and measured monthly and his diet adjusted based on weight gain and loss. The nutritional goal was to balance growth rate with body condition. At birth Rip was 93 cm total length and 7.9 kg, at 8 months he was 139 cm total length and 17.2 kg.
Sea-ing is Believing: Exploring Seadragon Reproductive Events with
Data Visualization Tools

Nancy Pham

South-East Zoo Alliance for
Reproduction & Conservation
Full Abstract
The common seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus), also popularly known as the weedy seadragon (WSD), has a long but sporadic history of breeding events in aquaria. One of the earliest documented successful hatchings of WSDs was recorded 30 years ago. Since then, at least twelve institutions have successfully brooded and hatched WSDs. These successes are archived across various platforms, such as peer-reviewed articles, conference presentations, husbandry manuals, public forums, and personal communications records. To increase our industry knowledge, retention, and the transfer of information about reproductive successes in WSDs, we have compiled these historical records into a platform designed to handle complex datasets and generate interactive visual aids.
This standardized database has allowed us to take a closer look into parameters that are anecdotally believed to be important but have yet to be systematically examined. These parameters include temperature, photoperiod, and lunar cycles, as well as physical habitat characteristics, and social group composition that tie back to the dates of the successful egg transfer event. To establish how this database can be updated as new information is obtained, we have piloted it with recent egg transfer events to identify pinch points in data mining and data entry. The goal of this first phase is to strengthen the current database we have collaboratively established and to recruit stakeholders to join, contribute, and aid in phase two. The aim of phase two will focus on conducting hypothesis driven research to further our understanding of the effects of environmental and habitat conditions in WSD reproduction.