The moon jelly ( Aurelia aurita) also washes ashore in large groups and look like a flat clear pancake with a pink four leaf clover shape inside of it, which is its stomach. They have very short tentacles and are not as harmful as the sea nettle. The sea nettle is a jellyfish that has long tentacles and can give quite a sting. There are tiny hyperdermic type needles called nematocysts, along the tentacles, which fire off on contact and inject a substance that would normally incapacitate a fish. For the human flesh it stings like fire. Another jellyfish that packs a wallop is a sea wasp (Chiropsalmus quadrumanus).

True to its name it is like being stung by wasps when coming into contact with its tentacles. Some jellies light up and are luminescent. The sea walnut (Beroe ovata) is the size of a large pecan and if put in a cup of water and watch carefully, the beautiful rows of colored lights glow in a wave up and down the sides of the creature. They are easily overlooked they are so clear and small.

Jellyfish are not too much of a problem here on South Padre but do watch out for the purple bubble the Portuguese Man O War. Its long purple tentacles sting with no mercy. It’s best to just look and not touch these beautiful creatures. We don’t want to have close encounters of the stinging kind when around the ocean, but jellyfish are wonderfully beautiful and mysterious creatures of the sea. Portuguese Man-O-War Photo Nancy Patterson

( note: first aid for jellyfish - rinse with fresh water, in most cases the sting may be treated with vinegar and unseasoned meat tenderizer mixed in a paste, applied directly to the sting. Reactions vary in individuals.)

Sargasso Seaweed

The Sargasso Seaweed is wonderful and is a floating city when out on the water. It is a city for a variety of marine life and sea turtles. As it is blown into the Gulf of Mexico on the north winds, it eventually ends up on the beach and in the bay. Most of the fish have enough sense to swim out to more of it as the seaweed hits the breakers. Some of the little creatures cling on for dear life and end up on the beach where, to the delight of the shore birds, they pick thru it and eat the little shrimp and crabs that didn’t bail out in time. The Seaweed then becomes a great natural way to keep the beach in place as it sinks down into the sand and helps to hold the beach in place. Sweeping it up to please the beach goers in the long run may have the beach goers crying “where is the beach” as the beach slowly erodes away. This seaweed has piled up on these beaches for hundreds, even thousands of years and helps to renourish the fragile beach ecosystem.
The creatures that live in the Sargasso are very unique and have adapted well to their floating city. Most of them are the same orange color of the seaweed itself.

The Sargasso fish is perfectly at home being the same color and having adapted foot like fins that crawl thru the seaweed looking for a meal. It can consume a fish the same size as itself.

Sargasso Fish

The Sargasso File fish uses its file like fin to hold itself in the seaweed.

Sargasso File Fish

The Sargasso Seahorse and its relative the Pipefish are also that great golden orange color.
There are nudibranchs and anemones, Sargasso crabs and shrimp.

Sargasso Nudibranch blending into the sargasso seaweed

Other creatures also use the Seaweed as a nursery for their young such as Southern Hakes and Butterfish and many exotic fish such as tiny flying fish are found in this unique Sargasso. The reason this seaweed floats is that it has hundreds of tiny air filled sacs that you can pop like bubble wrap. If you pick it up on the beach just as it floats in and give it a shake you can see the little shrimp and crabs that are hiding in it. If you take a small cup to the beach with you and fill it with sea water, then shake the freshly beached sargasso over it the tiny creatures will fall into the water and you can enjoy seeing them.
Also you can help save wildlife by picking up trash on the beach and disposing of it in the trash cans provided by the city and county.

If you would like to see the creatures that live in this unique seaweed and learn more about how to help save wildlife call 956-454-4799 to visit the South Padre Island Dolphin Research and Nature Center, a non profit organization dedicated to helping save wildlife of South Padre Island through education.

Dolphin Research and Sealife Nature Center

South Padre Island Dolphin Research and Sealife Nature Center has now opened on South Padre Island. The Non Profit Organization is located at 105 W. Pompano. The research and nature center will be open everyday at 1:00. At 1:00 we will feed the sea creatures and discuss their unique habitat. Children can help with the feeding. All the dolphins in the area are in the wild and the eight year research of South Padre Island’s Bottlenose dolphins will be on display in the form of photo’s, videos, books and presentations by the research team. Trips by boat with the research team to visit their wild dolphin study group are available thru the research center daily.

Tours of the facility can be arranged for large groups at other times of the day. The nature center has hands on touch tank tidal pools for everyone to experience live marine life and learn about live shells, hold a starfish and hermit crab and other invertebrates. Educational displays will help inform all on how to save wildlife and protect it.

The center will serve as a birding information center for all birders to report sightings or to answer questions about local birds in general. A birding rehab program is also in the works. There is an eco-friendly gift shop meaning no marine life will be put to death to sell as souvenirs. The gift shop will help raise funds to operate the Research Center. There will be plenty of dolphin related gifts, jewelry and photos in the gift shop area.

An Adopt-a-Dolphin Program is in place to help raise funds for the Research Center and donations and members are needed to get this new non-profit organization up and running. Quarterly news letters will keep members informed on latest news on our dolphins and nature of South Padre Island and the Laguna Madre.

There will be educational programs set up and scholarships given as the center raises the funds. The opportunity to learn about nature with a view of conservation and future needs of wildlife will be a focus. There will be story telling hours so everyone interested can get together and share stories about their nature experiences such as fishing, shelling, dolphin encounters, birding, and many other topics. Also this center will serve as a nature report center for any sighting or events seen, from a deceased animal to injured animal or abusive behavior to wildlife. Ultimately this center will be a place everyone can share their love for the nature of the area and learn how to help take care of it. The phone no. is 956-454-4799 or 956-761-7178. This research and nature center, Sea Turtle Inc. and the University of Texas Pan Am Coastal Lab provide South Padre Island with three very informative and educational centers on the nature of South Padre Island to help create eco friendly and informed tourists and visitors and residents.

Save our Ocean Wildlife

Keeping an eye on nature is for the most part an uplifting and fun part  of l my life, but there are times when it can be very sad to be out in nature. It is hard to see how a few from the human race can be, well, I guess I just can't put down the words I would use to describe this type of person or persons. Recently a friend of ours was walking out on the jetty to observe a rare sandpiper. This is the jetty in Isla Blanca Park on South Padre Island. It is usually full of people fishing almost all the way out to the end. Our friend found his bird and spoke with another couple out there looking for this purple sandpiper. Then John sees something that turned his stomach. Three severed flippers of a sea turtle just lying there. He looked around for the turtle but did not see it. When he got home he sent me the photo he took of them. He left them there, not sure what to do with them. I called Gibb at the coastal studies lab to tell him about the atrocity and he said he recently picked up a turtle that was reported on the beach close to the jetty. It had green twine around its neck and three flippers severed completely off. Everyone on sight agreed it looked like a clean knife cut. The sight was sickening to everyone. Gibb does turtle rescue and there was no saving this one. He took it to the coastal studies lab where it will be picked up by Fisheries. We all agreed that there are not too many people around in this time and age that do not know that sea turtles are protected. We came very close to living in a world with out them if we had not stepped in to protect them from being slaughtered into extinction by our own kind. Knowing the rules of fishing for individual areas fished is so important. I see so many people on the jetty taking baby mangrove snappers. Why? because they look like the sun perch up north that never get big. Mangrove snappers get huge. Every one should be aware by now with shows like animal planet and national geographic, that taking the babies will diminish the entire population. I saw this women keep a mangrove snapper less than five inches long. Just a baby. There are no guidelines on the mangrove snappers yet but someday there will have to be if we want to keep a population of any significance around.  Let's save our ocean life. Not destroy it. We need a master of the jetty. Let us all help by picking up any fishing line or trash we see when walking the jetty and beach. Each and everyone of us can make a difference in saving wildlife.

Protecting the Treasures of the Beach

What beach treasure is special to you? A relaxing walk on the beach will usually always yield something to stir the emotions or wonderment of the mind. There is always the anticipation of what lies ahead and what will wash up next. What will the sea spit out on the sand? Perhaps the joy of a beautiful shell found unbroken such as a murex or cockle, a scotch bonnet or a flame auger. Finding a sea bean such as a hamburger bean or a sea heart to add to sea treasures will make the walk a memorable one. A beautiful piece of drift wood washed ashore inspires an idea of what to do with it. An odd creature lying on the sand and not knowing what it is may inspire a desire to learn more about what the sea yields. Is it a piece of yellow string lying there or is it the sea creature whip coral? Perhaps the despair of finding an animal that died at sea and washed up to the shore stirs the heart strings and emotions run deep with this creature. Did it have a full life? How did it die? Creatures that have been caught in the waves and don’t have the strength to escape the waves force, such as jellyfish, end up on the beach to fascinate us with their beauty and ability to cause us pain. To see a purple bubble slowly wiggling on the sand both awes us but makes us wary. They will disappear into the sand thru the day. Sadly no more sand dollars can be found on South Padre due to over collecting. Many of the shells may have hermit crabs in them and should be left to live and do their job in the eco system. They will not live out of the water and if you purchase a land crab as a pet it will not live if let go on the hostile beach environment. If an injured marine mammal, sea turtle or injured bird is seen on the beach this should be reported immediately to local authorities and don’t despair if it takes a few calls to get thru to the right people to help for that certain area. Many of these animals can be saved if helped soon enough. Some of the places to call are the Coastal Studies Lab at 956-761-2644, Sea Turtle Inc. at 761-4511, the Sea life Nature Center at 761-7178 or the police at 761-5454. It is best not to touch the injured creature and try to keep anyone with dogs away. The many stories and finds while taking a walk on the beach are vast and fun to share. Some finds are real treasure like coins and artifacts and some are treasures of nature such as a rare shell or a shark’s tooth. Some finds are very disappointing such as the vast amounts of trash washing up in the form of plastics and glass. Light bulbs, tires, bottles, floats, wood, plastic bags, rubber gloves, boots, food wrappers and the list goes on as far as the beach itself. But some trash can be made into treasure like old flip flops carved into toys, cans recycled, and trash turned into works of art. And of course everyone can help save wildlife by picking up plastics on the beach. Everyone finds their own treasure of some kind on the beach walk and sometimes it is just the walk itself that is the real treasure, being at one with the sea and sand and air. It is good for the soul, mind and heart. If you find something on the beach you want to learn more about bring it by the South Padre Island Nature center.

To learn more about sea life visit the Dolphin Research and Sea life nature center at 105 W. Pompano.
There is a 1:00 program daily. See our website at Spinaturecenter.com or call 956-761-7178.