Marine Laboratory & Aquarium

Visitors might not gravitate to the simple-looking African cichlid fish in Mote Aquarium’s exhibit “Oh Baby! Life Cycles of the Seas” — but its plain appearance belies an important backstory. These black or silver fish of the species Astatotilapia piceata (also called Haplochromis piceatus) may be extinct in the wild, according to new findings shared by a Boston University (BU) professor who spent January through March this year as a visiting scientist at Mote Marine Laboratory.

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A new bipartisan bill introduced in U.S. Congress this month encourages a science-based approach to significantly reduce the overfishing and unsustainable trade of sharks, rays and skates around the world and prevent shark finning.

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Dr. Kevan Main is a global pioneer in aquaculture, often called seafood farming but encompassing much more. Want to know how much of your seafood is farmed? Curious about whether farmed fish are good for you and the environment? Main shares ideas and stories about aquaculture done right — using improved technology to make this rapidly growing practice more sustainable and economically sound. Beyond simply farming fish, Main is studying how to raise fish together with salt-tolerant "sea vegetables" in a practice called marine aquaponics, and the results are tasty.

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Mote Marine Laboratory’s science-based coral reef restoration initiative for the Florida Keys received major support in the State of Florida budget signed by Governor Rick Scott, Friday, March 16. A total of $500,000 was appropriated by Florida’s legislators and approved by the governor for Mote’s Coral Reef Restoration Initiative, in coordination with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Department of Environmental Protection.

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Mote Marine Laboratory scientists and their Cuban colleagues are celebrating the publication of a study on the movement of three female silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) tracked by satellite-linked tags off the Caribbean coast of Cuba.  This study is the result of the first expedition in Cuban waters to satellite-tag sharks, in accordance with Cuba’s National Plan of Action for Sharks, adopted in late 2015.

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After a month-long renovation, Staples revealed the breakroom it transformed for Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida. Mote was chosen as the winner of Staples’ $50,000 breakroom makeover contest because of its collaborative marine science mission and a creative submission from one of its shark scientists that illustrated a much-needed upgrade for the space. 

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Explore hot topics in science and the environment with local experts — including scientists, planners, managers, fishers, farmers and many others — during the 2018 Environmental Summit presented by the Science and Environment Council of Southwest Florida on April 26-27 at New College of Florida.

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Scientists seek to plant fish-friendly, shoreline greenery at no cost to you.

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Can you say “biogeochemistry” three times quickly? Great: Now can you define it?  In this episode, Dr. Heather Page helps Hayley and Joe get their heads around this important subject, which affects all life whether you’re in a forest or on a coral reef!  Heather, a Mote Postdoctoral Research Fellow, wants to understand how one biogeochemical issue, ocean acidification, affects corals, sponges and seaweeds that fight for space on the ocean bottom. It’s not exactly a boxing match, but this silent competition must be understood to help scientists make predictions about our planet’s future, when biogeochemistry shifts could mean a very different ocean.

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