Stingray Hideaway Training Packet
Assigned 205: C.J. Scarboro
Primary Biologist Responsible for this Area: Michelle Fry
Secondary Biologist Responsible for this Area: Margaret Elkanick Equipment
Radio: The radio should always be turned on during operating hours as well as set to a volume that the cast member can hear over ambient noise. The radio will reside with the cast member on the microphone if they are alone in the touch area. Otherwise it should be kept by the secondary staff so the Microphone person can focus on guest engagement.
Microphone: The microphone should always be worn by the cast member during operating hours. If the volume of guests in the area is low, the cast member can elect to engage guests with the microphone turned off but otherwise the microphone should remain turned on to communicate with guests. If the volume is too low or too high, attempt to adjust the microphone distance from your face. If this does not resolve the issue, contact 205. DO NOT ADJUST ANY SETTINGS INCLUDING SENSITIVITY. Anytime the microphone is not in use, it should be powered off and stored in a dry location. Be sure to power the microphone completely off before removing batteries. Never should the cord be coiled around the headset or the microphone.
Protocol
Primary Touch Cast Member
All guests should be greeted upon entering the area. Introduce guests to the area and convey the opportunity to touch. Rules and Touch Protocol should be conveyed loudly and often using microphone. Encourage guests to ask questions. When touch protocol has been conveyed, list and describe animals within the exhibit. Monitor guests from “The Crow’s Nest” to ensure proper touch technique is being followed. Direct guests to handwashing stations when finished touching. In the absence of additional cast members in the area, clean up touch area during downtime. Contact 205 if mop or additional cleaning supplies are needed.
Secondary Touch Cast Member (Helper)
Assist primary touch cast member in all above duties. Monitor tank from multiple angles to ensure guest and animal safety. Clean during times of low guest volume. Monitor and direct flow of tunnel.
Touch Protocol
Guests may touch any animal within reach. Guests must always adhere to two finger touch protocol. Guests may touch rays along the back or along fins. Guests should avoid head area especially eyes. Guests should not be encouraged to touch tail but incidental touching will occur and is fine. Guests should be discouraged from touching underside of rays.
Additional Rules for Guests
Guests may not lean into the exhibit beyond their torso. Guests may not stand, kneel or sit on the ledge of the exhibit. A guest may not reach over another guest to reach into the exhibit. If all of the space around the exhibit is full, ask other guests to wait for a space to open at the exhibit and politely inform guests currently at the exhibit that others are waiting to do the experience. If at any time the safety of guests or yourself is in jeopardy, immediately contact 205. If a guest falls into the exhibit, immediately assist them to get out of the exhibit and call 205 for assistance. Ensure animals are being touched only in the manner described above. If guests are not following proper touching procedures, repeat the procedures directing them to the entire group to avoid embarrassing any single guest If a guest persists with inappropriate behavior and is a child, locate the parent/chaperone of this child and discreetly ask them to address the situation with the child. If the guest it is an adult, approach them and remind them of proper procedures directly. If unsafe touching continues, call for the assistance of 205 If an item falls into the exhibit, attempt to retrieve it by hand and either return it to the guest or discard of it if it is trash or ruined as a result of being in the water. If unable to retrieve it yourself, request assistance from a member of the Husbandry department. If an animal appears to be injured or dead in the exhibit inform 205 immediately.
F.A.Q.s
Q: Why do we have to touch with two fingers?
A: Animals often feel threatened and will panic when they are grabbed by an unknown hand. This can elicit what we call a “prey response” that can cause them to behave erratically and even dangerously. To discourage guests (especially young ones) from grabbing our animals or picking them up, we require the two finger touch. This allows the guests to enjoy our touch area while allowing the animals to behave naturally.
Q: Can the animals bite me?
A: Anything with teeth can bite but our animals here at Stingray Hideaway are typically quite docile. We encourage guests to touch gently and with proper touch technique to discourage the rays from behaving aggressively.
Q: Can the stingrays still sting me?
A: All of our rays still currently have their venomous barb. The barbs have been trimmed and dulled to increase guest safety. This trimming is harmless and painless for the rays and is very similar to trimming a fingernail. The surgical removal of the barb can be a painful and even dangerous process for the rays so it is avoided at all costs. Stingrays only sting when they feel threatened or trapped so as long as guests are using proper touch technique, there should be no danger.
Q: Can stingrays kill people by stinging them? Does it hurt?
A: The serrated barb and venom from a stingray is meant to cause enough pain to distract persistent predators. The sting is not meant to kill and is only used when the ray feels it can’t escape. The sting can be extremely painful and the barb itself can cause severe tissue damage but unless a major organ or vein/artery is struck, wounds are not usually life-threatening. The pain can cause shock which can be life threatening, especially if the victim has an existing heart condition.
Animal Species Cownose Ray
Rhinoptera bonasus
Order: Myliobatiformes Family: Rhinopteridae IUCN STATUS: Near Threatened
Size: Male rays often reach about 35 inches (89 cm) in width and weigh 26 pounds (12 kg). Females typically reach 28 inches (71 cm) in width and weigh 36 pounds (16 kg).
Diet: The cownose ray feeds upon clams, oysters, hard clams and other invertebrates.
Habitat: Can be found in the Atlantic Ocean along western Africa, the eastern U.S., the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Caribbean. They are considered an open ocean species, but can inhabit inshore, shallow bays and estuaries. They prefer warm temperate and tropical waters to depths of 72 feet.
Migration: In the Atlantic Ocean, their migration is northward in the late spring and southward in the late fall. The population in the Gulf of Mexico migrates in schools of as many as 10,000 rays, clockwise from western Florida to the Yucatan in Mexico.
Predators: Due to the open ocean nature of the species, they are often vulnerable to a variety of species of sharks and large fish such as Sandbar Sharks, Bull Sharks, and Cobia.
Reproduction: The breeding period is considered to be June through October. Cownose rays are ovoviviparous meaning that the male will fertilize the eggs internally and the female will carry them internally until they hatch. When they hatch the young will remain internally. Initial nutrition provided to the embryos is from the yolk, which gradually diminishes between August and October. After October, histotroph (uterine “milk”), a viscid yellowish secretion from the uterus, provides the remaining nutrition. It is assumed that the embryos receive this through the mouth, spiracles, and gill slits.
Conservation Importance: There has been concern about the increasing population size of cownose rays due to their high predation of oyster beds. The oyster population has been decreasing due to diseases and pollution reducing their grass bed habitat. It is thought that the cownose ray's high predation of oyster beds could further complicate the problem of declining oyster populations. On the flip side, Cownose rays are also a prey item for larger predators such as sharks. Declines in population due to global climate change and pollution can disrupt the natural food chain even leading to collapse in some areas where predators feed exclusively on rays. Cownose rays are especially sensitive to population decline because they sexually mature late in their life and reproduce slowly (with only 1-6 young per cycle.) Southern Stingray Dasyatis Americana
Order: Myliobatiformes Family: Dasyatidae IUCN STATUS: Data Deficient (Not enough data to evaluate)
Size: Adult southern stingrays have been known to reach sizes of nearly five feet (1.5 m) wide, but the average adult size is smaller. Like in most whiptail stingrays, the southern stingray’s tail is very long, often longer than the body width.
Diet: Southern Stingrays feed on shellfish, worms, shrimp, crabs and small fish along the sandy ocean bottom.
Habitat: Can be found in the Western Atlantic Ocean along Eastern South America, the eastern U.S., the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Caribbean. They are considered a coastal species and inhabit shallow coastal and estuarine waters, to a depth of 60 meters and bury themselves in sandy and muddy bottoms.
Migration: Southern Stingrays are non-migratory.
Predators: The primary predators of southern stingray adults are hammerhead sharks. Both scalloped hammerheads and Great Hammerheads have been observed using their wide heads to pin stingrays to the seafloor, wildly biting them until they can no longer move. When dissecting large hammerheads, scientists often find numerous of southern stingray spines lodged in their jaws. Juvenile southern stingrays are eaten by other species of sharks as well.
Reproduction: The southern stingray is ovoviviparous. The pups hatch from their egg capsules inside the mother, and are “live” born soon afterwards. Like the cownose rays, Southern Stingrays are histotrophic. In captivity, gestation lasted 135 to 226 days, after which a litter of two to ten young were born.
Conservation Importance: Fishing activities pose a potential threat to the southern stingray, either when caught as bycatch along the east coast of the USA, or when deliberately targeted in parts of South America where its meat is sold salted. Southern stingrays are key coastal food chains and often are popular with local divers and tourists and can commonly be found in public aquariums.
Florida Pompano
Trachinotus carolinus
Order: Perciformes Family: Carangidae IUCN STATUS: Least Concern
Size: Individuals can grow between 17 to 25 inches (43 – 63cm.) Most individuals weigh less than three pounds but some individuals weighing up to 8 or 9 pounds.
Diet: Pompano are known to eat a variety of small invertebrates as well as small fishes.
Habitat: Schools can be found in the western Atlantic anywhere from Massachusetts to Brazil. Its habitat is surf flats, and it tends to stay away from clear water regions, such as the Bahamas.
Migration: Preferring warmer waters, schools of Pompano will often range north in the summer and return to the south when temperatures dip in the fall.
Predators: Like most species of fish, Florida Pompano attract a wide variety of predators. Mackerel, tuna, sharks and large birds are the pompano's main predators. For Florida Pompano that swim near beaches, brown pelicans are the biggest threat.
Reproduction: See Typical Fish Spawning Behavior
Conservation Importance: Florida Pompano are a numerous and hardy fish but in recent years have been highly sought after as a food fish in many restaurants. Due to its recent popularity, pompano filets have become one of the most expensive fish filets to be purchased in most markets (>$3.50 USD per pound.) Due to high demand, research into Pompano aquaculture (fish farming) began the 1950s and has steadily grown since. This is of great importance due to the large impact that overfishing (observed in Pompano specifically on the Florida Atlantic coast) can have on local species, especially in coastal waters. To temper overfishing, most coastal areas enforce a bag limit for the pompano and similar species. Mosquito control practices have also impacted coquina and sand flea populations, both of which are primary prey items of Florida Pompano.
Permit
Trachinotus falcatus
Order: Perciformes Family: Carangidae IUCN STATUS: Least Concern
Size: Adults range between 20 and 30 inches long but have been recorded up to 48 inches in length. Permit typically range between 15 and 30lbs but adults up to approx. 80lbs have been recorded.
Diet: They are known to eat a variety of small invertebrates – including shrimps, squids, and polychaete worms – as well as small fishes.
Habitat: Permit are found in the western Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Brazil, including most of the Caribbean islands. They are usually found in shallow, tropical waters such as mudflats and channels.
Migration: This is species is non-migratory.
Predators: Large species of predatory fish and marine mammals. Juveniles can also fall prey to birds and other coastal animals but their large size as adults usually protects them from all but the largest of predators.
Reproduction: See Typical Fish Spawning Behavior
Conservation Importance: Similar to the Florida Pompano, Permit are often a target for anglers. Despite this, Permit meat is not viewed as desirable as Pompano meat and therefore the species does not face commercial fishing pressures as severely as Pompano. Permit do face environment and man made threats much like other ocean species (climate change, chemical pollution etc.)