Marine Wildlife Veterinary Medicine and Research

🌎🐢WORLD SEA TURTLE DAY! 🐢🌎 These ancient mariners have been swimming the oceans since the time of the dinosaurs, but today they face massive threats from plastic pollution and habitat loss. Let’s protect our flippered friends by cutting back on single-use plastics and keeping our beaches clean. Every small change helps keep them swimming free! 🌊✨

🐢 Happy Leatherback Day! 🐢
Did you know the leatherback is the largest of all sea turtle species? These gentle giants can grow over six feet in length and weigh well over 1,000 lbs! They also undertake the longest migration of any sea turtle, traveling as far as 10,000 km between nesting beaches and foraging grounds. Here at the Page Lab, our researchers have conducted numerous leatherback studies—including health and injury assessments, tracking post-nesting movement patterns, and studying their foraging site fidelity.

🐢Green Sea Turtle Day! 🐢 Don't let the name fool you: Green sea turtles aren't actually green on the outside! They get their colorful name from the bright green hue of their internal fat. As the only herbivorous sea turtles in the ocean, they act as underwater lawnmowers, keeping seagrass beds manicured and healthy for dozens of other marine species.

🐢It's Hawksbill Turtle Day! 🐢This sea turtle is easily one of the most beautiful creatures in the ocean—but also one of the most critically endangered. Historically hunted to near extinction for their gorgeous "tortoiseshell" to make jewelry and trinkets, they now find sanctuary in tropical coral reefs. They use their sharp, bird-like beaks to forage for sea sponges tucked deep inside reef crevices.

🐢 Loggerhead Turtle Day! 🐢If you've ever wondered how the loggerhead sea turtle got its name, just look at its massive head and powerful, muscular jaw. Loggerheads are a "keystone species," meaning the entire marine ecosystem relies on them. By grazing along the ocean floor, they keep invertebrate populations in check and help clean up the seabed.

This week is Sea Turtle Week, and today is 🐢Kemp's Ridley Turtle Day! 🐢 The smallest sea turtle in the world, and tragically, the most endangered. While conservation has brought them back from the brink since the 1980s, protecting their nesting grounds from pollution and fishing gear is still an urgent, daily battle. In our lab, we are collaborating with researchers at Padre Island National Seashore to investigate the impacts of fibropapillomatosis, a deadly tumor disease, on this critically endangered species.

👩‍🏫 🧬 At the FAU 2026 Research Renewal event held at Harbor Branch last week, Dr. Annie presented an overview of our program and an introduction to some of our work. Check out the presentation here, and👇🔗 click the links below to learn more!

Florida Atlantic Research
FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute

https://www.fau.edu/hboi/research/marine-ecosystem-conservation/marine-wildlife-veterinary-medicine/

https://marinewildlifeveterinarymedicine.weebly.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_OQGNgGgNE

🐬🐋 Last week, members of our lab attended the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Marine Mammal Symposium in Wilmington, North Carolina.
🎉Congratulations to Savanna Hohenstein, who won Runner-Up in the graduate student poster competition, and 🎉Lenny Hanisko, who was awarded Honorable Mention in the undergraduate poster category!! Matt Hodenbosi, Katie Knotek, Kristen Eisele, Alayna Robertson, and Jamie Knaub also presented their work at the conference💪💪💪 Way to go guys!!



FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute

🐳 Hot off the press! This month, the Journal of Wildlife Diseases published our article on the discovery of novel strains of Helicobacter in the stomachs of stranded pygmy s***m whales. 🐳 These elusive whales often strand with stomach ulcers and gastric and intestinal worm infestations, which we identify at necropsy. We used advanced imaging 🔬, molecular diagnostics, and genetic sequencing 🧬 to identify new species of Helicobacter, a bacterial pathogen that is known to cause stomach ulcers in humans and other terrestrial mammals. Finding Helicobacter in these whales may represent pathogen "spillover" into the marine environment from terrestrial runoff, and highlights the importance of monitoring marine mammals as sentinels of coastal ecosystem health. 🐳💗🌎

FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Wildlife Disease Association
One Health Institute

Researchers Find New Bacteria in Stranded Florida Pygmy S***m Whales Analyzing more than 20 years of stranding data, FAU Harbor Branch researchers discovered three new Helicobacter bacteria strains in stranded pygmy s***m whales, linked to ulcers and stomach inflammation.