Part 2: Rays for days

Back on Florida’s East Coast, we were a little discouraged after our lack of success August-October, but we didn’t know we still had a few surprises in store. We went out on the boat with a crew from “Changing Seas” (South Florida PBS) on November 27th, 2023, to film our research with whitespotted eagle rays. It was windy, the water visibility was terrible, we had no crew or boats planned for active tracking and we caught an eagle ray pup (55 cm disc width) in our 2nd set!

Project leader Ariadna Rojas Corzo with whitespotted eagle ray tagged in the Indian River Lagoon on November 27th, 2023. All research conducted under Florida State Permit FWC-SAL-23-1140. Photo © Matt Ajemian | Fisheries Ecology and Conservation Lab.

Then again on February 24th, 2024 we received a call from Inwater Research Group to tag a 64 cm eagle ray in Jensen Beach, Florida.

Surprise #2 Eagle ray captured by Inwater Research Group on February 24th, 2024. All research conducted under Florida State Permit FWC-SAL-23-1140. Photo © Fisheries Ecology and Conservation Lab.

We then went out in the field on March 13th, 2024 with graduate students from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and caught two young eagle rays with no boats or crew planned for active tracking. Bad timing, but we got all of our tags out! Three of them were also actively tracked, which will provide more information about their movements and habitat use in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Additionally, 10 young eagle rays have been tagged with coded tags providing data about their long-term movements in the lagoon for up to two years.

Surprise #3 Eagle rays tagged on March 13th, 2024 with graduate students from FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. All research conducted under Florida State Permit FWC-SAL-23-1140. Photo © Matt Ajemian | Fisheries Ecology and Conservation Lab.

Eagle ray tagged on March 13th, 2024. All research conducted under Florida State Permit FWC-SAL-23-1140. Photo © Ariadna Rojas Corzo | Fisheries Ecology and Conservation Lab.

Eagle ray tracked in the Indian River Lagoon March 13 th-March 16th, 2024. All research conducted under Florida State Permit FWC-SAL-23-1140. Photo © Ariadna Rojas Corzo | Fisheries Ecology and Conservation Lab.

Thank you to Save Our Seas Foundation for your support, Jeff Guertin, Cody Mott, Annessia Michaels and other members from the Inwater Research Group for your collaboration. Special thanks to Jimmy Nelson for making this happen and Clark Morgan, Brianna Cahill, Matt Ajemian, Mike McCallister, TJ Ostendorf and Mia Gomez for becoming my crew when I didn’t have one.

Eagle ray tagged in the Indian River Lagoon on November 27th, 2023. All research conducted under Florida State Permit FWC-SAL-23-1140. Photo © Matt Ajemian | Fisheries Ecology and Conservation Lab.