#sea nerd

(a couple years/another octo later)

Not even the skies are safe from this little sea monster!

Yesterday was our little Pokey-man’s 35th ‘birthday’/hatch day and I forgot to post about it so all you tumblr folk could join in on the shell-ebrations. He’s such a special little dude and we are lucky to know the exact date he hatched (because he was in a head start program and hatched in human care, but was unable to be released due to an arthritis-like joint disease) so I make a big about it every year with birthday banners, lots of back scratches, and even birthday cards from our kid’s camp.

Hurricane prep means everything, I mean EVERYTHING is tied down or stored away! So glad these sea turtles are living their best lives and going on kayaking adventures despite the storm 😝🌊🛶

On this week’s task list of the ‘Other duties as assigned’ job description for an aquarist:

Professional Coral Photograper

I actually had a lot of fun getting some updated coral photos for our social media coordinator. It’s always so striking and beautiful to me that corals are living, moving animals despite the fact that they look very plant-like (rearranging corals in our habitats makes me feel like a gardener 😆)

Making new friends is easy.....

...if there are any of you still paying attention since I legitimately haven’t posted in at least a year 😬

It’s been a busy and crazy year with new animals, experiences, gains and losses, lessons learned, and a lot of growth both personally and professionally. There is a lot that I’m looking forward to sharing with y’all, and I’ll try to update somewhat more frequently (when I’m not covered in saltwater or napping from a long day at work 😅)

For now, I’d like you all to meet our new octopus at work. We have had her for a couple months now and she has already established herself as a magnet thief 😈 I’m looking forward to watching her grown and getting to know this feisty lil alien!

POKEY-kemp’s ridley sea turtle

Picky eater

Spits out food with vitamins in it

WOLVERINE-sand tiger shark

Steals food from other sharks

Bites at feeding tongs instead of the fish

VARIOUS CLOWNFISH SPECIES

Pretty much all of the ones we have have bitten me

In general, they are jerk faces

JUVENILE GREEN SEA TURTLE (from recent cold stun event)

Lil piggy at feeding time

Pooped on me (very stinky)

CARBONADO-carolina diamondback terrapin

Messy eater

Crawls through sand then disperses it in water bowl/newly cleaned habitat

GREEN MORAY EEL

Steals food from innocent sea star

Derps around habitat looking for food like he’s never been fed before in his whole entire life (though his fat rolls tell a different story)