Curious: How do you bring back what you get on vacation?

[starypotter]

Hi everyone,
As the title says, I'm curious how some of you go on vacation and bring back corals, fish, etc? Same goes for the people who travel to conventions and whatnot.
I would imagine a cooler filled with saltwater and a bubbler? This is assuming you're not able to just package up your fish and mail them back home. We used to go to Florida all the time, and we collectively hate to fly, so it's a 2 day drive. Not saying this would happen any time in the foreseeable future because darn vacations are expensive, but it has piqued my curiosity.

 

[TheEngineer]

Two days is a long time in transit, I wouldn't recommend that.

There are these neat little frag holders that you can pick up that look sorta like a thermos. They are clear so the TSA folks can see inside. You're allowed to bring coral through a checkpoint, since it is a live animal. I'd be prepared for a fight about it though since most agents probably aren't familiar.

The best option, IMO, is that many stores will box and ship items for you. You can have them hold your items and ship them to arrive the same day or next day as you arrive home.

 

[Awesome Dennis]

I was in Orlando recently and I made some purchases at WWC, I packed everything in a cooler and put it in my checked bag for the flight home.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hi everyone,
As the title says, I'm curious how some of you go on vacation and bring back corals, fish, etc? Same goes for the people who travel to conventions and whatnot.
I would imagine a cooler filled with saltwater and a bubbler? This is assuming you're not able to just package up your fish and mail them back home. We used to go to Florida all the time, and we collectively hate to fly, so it's a 2 day drive. Not saying this would happen any time in the foreseeable future because darn vacations are expensive, but it has piqued my curiosity.

If you are flying, it can be a real problem. Especially with the range of attitude among TSA staff. I was able to bring a couple of corals home from the MACNA convention in Denver. But I think having several others doing the same thing before I ever got to the airport set the TSA agents up to understand what was going on and it was no big deal.

If you are buying and transporting, be sure you have an itemized bill to ID what you are carrying. If you collected stuff, you want to be absolutely sure you have the proper license to do the collecting. It may be useful at the airport, but it could be the difference between an OK experience and a huge fine and even jail time if you are inspected by the local authorities. We've been inspected by FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) more times than I can remember... and we've never had any issues.

If you are driving, that can be a very different approach. I collect in the Florida Keys about 2 to 5 times a year and usually bring some critters home. Now for me, home is just a 5 hour drive. So all I do is put them in a small cooler with seawater collected the morning we leave and a battery operated bubbler. We've experienced very few loses and they were mostly more delicate creatures like fish, sponges, spaghetti worms. Corals (soft and gorgonians), crabs, snails, stars, cucumbers, clams, flame scallops, shrimp and anemones have all made it home just fine.

Some things we collect need to be kept for a 1 to 3 days before we drive home. So we keep a bigger cooler at the motel that has an A/C bubbler, a small wavemaker powerhead and a heater. The heater is needed as the motel room air of 70 to 74 degrees is being blown through a smaller amount of water in the cooler and cools the water fairly quickly. We do go out to the ocean once or twice a day and do a 50 to 100% water change (we are only talking about 5 or 10 gallons). If I were going to do a 2 or 3 day drive from Florida back home, Id do the same thing in the car that I do in the motel. The tricky part is doing the water changes. I'd plan on using a small cooler so there is less water and have a couple of 5 gallon jugs full of seawater and do 50% water changes every 12 to 24 hours, depending on how much livestock you are transporting.

You might want to look at the Snorkeling & Collecting thread here at R2R. There is a link in my signature below. Like I said above, we do this 2 to 5 times every year for the last 10 or 12 years. So I have some experience and I'm happy to answer questions and share our adventures and photos.

 

[starypotter]

If you are flying, it can be a real problem. Especially with the range of attitude among TSA staff. I was able to bring a couple of corals home from the MACNA convention in Denver. But I think having several others doing the same thing before I ever got to the airport set the TSA agents up to understand what was going on and it was no big deal.

If you are buying and transporting, be sure you have an itemized bill to ID what you are carrying. If you collected stuff, you want to be absolutely sure you have the proper license to do the collecting. It may be useful at the airport, but it could be the difference between an OK experience and a huge fine and even jail time if you are inspected by the local authorities. We've been inspected by FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) more times than I can remember... and we've never had any issues.

If you are driving, that can be a very different approach. I collect in the Florida Keys about 2 to 5 times a year and usually bring some critters home. Now for me, home is just a 5 hour drive. So all I do is put them in a small cooler with seawater collected the morning we leave and a battery operated bubbler. We've experienced very few loses and they were mostly more delicate creatures like fish, sponges, spaghetti worms. Corals (soft and gorgonians), crabs, snails, stars, cucumbers, clams, flame scallops, shrimp and anemones have all made it home just fine.

Some things we collect need to be kept for a 1 to 3 days before we drive home. So we keep a bigger cooler at the motel that has an A/C bubbler, a small wavemaker powerhead and a heater. The heater is needed as the motel room air of 70 to 74 degrees is being blown through a smaller amount of water in the cooler and cools the water fairly quickly. We do go out to the ocean once or twice a day and do a 50 to 100% water change (we are only talking about 5 or 10 gallons). If I were going to do a 2 or 3 day drive from Florida back home, Id do the same thing in the car that I do in the motel. The tricky part is doing the water changes. I'd plan on using a small cooler so there is less water and have a couple of 5 gallon jugs full of seawater and do 50% water changes every 12 to 24 hours, depending on how much livestock you are transporting.

You might want to look at the Snorkeling & Collecting thread here at R2R. There is a link in my signature below. Like I said above, we do this 2 to 5 times every year for the last 10 or 12 years. So I have some experience and I'm happy to answer questions and share our adventures and photos.

That's all information that's good to know! I'm enjoying looking through your snorkeling thread though now it's making me a little home sick, I noticed before when you helped me with lights that your tag was from the same town I spent a lot of my childhood visiting. I had no idea that there were so many cool things in the ocean there. I guess I never really looked or had reason to think about it. Your recent post about collecting some anemones got me thinking about this if I were to ever go back since it would really be something special to have a critter from the water there in my tank.

 

[andrewkw]

I live in Canada so it's a little different. Here you cannot bring fish or corals on as carry on since there are 0 liquid exemptions. What I have done twice is wrap corals in wet paper towels in my carry on. The damp paper towels don't have enough liquid to exceed the limits. They were almost all fine 6 or so hours out of water. In the case of some acros it may actually be easier to ship them "dry" since they can't slime up. When I've brought fish on a plane I simply checked the fish box. The airport security did want to swab but no other issues. Depending on the airline they may or may encourage (allow) live fish pets but since seafood is not an issue and the airline themselves do not handle rather the airport security do I've had no issues this way.

Driving for fish I've simply asked for extra water and kept them in 5 gallon buckets. Really this is not too much different then the bare 10 gallon tanks I use for tank transfer. 2 Easters ago I was visiting family bought a bunch of fish a couple of days before I was driving home and then realized I had misplaced my air pump. Since it was Easter and all the stores were closed except the grocery I went and bought some potatoes and hydrogen peroxide and kept fish alive for a couple of days without a pump without issue. Now normally I would bring an air pump but if you don't have one there is another way. Since I live out in the middle of nowhere anytime I go on vacation, visit family or head to any city I gotta take that opportunity to visit reef shops.

 

[starypotter]

I live in Canada so it's a little different. Here you cannot bring fish or corals on as carry on since there are 0 liquid exemptions. What I have done twice is wrap corals in wet paper towels in my carry on. The damp paper towels don't have enough liquid to exceed the limits. They were almost all fine 6 or so hours out of water. In the case of some acros it may actually be easier to ship them "dry" since they can't slime up. When I've brought fish on a plane I simply checked the fish box. The airport security did want to swab but no other issues. Depending on the airline they may or may encourage (allow) live fish pets but since seafood is not an issue and the airline themselves do not handle rather the airport security do I've had no issues this way.

Driving for fish I've simply asked for extra water and kept them in 5 gallon buckets. Really this is not too much different then the bare 10 gallon tanks I use for tank transfer. 2 Easters ago I was visiting family bought a bunch of fish a couple of days before I was driving home and then realized I had misplaced my air pump. Since it was Easter and all the stores were closed except the grocery I went and bought some potatoes and hydrogen peroxide and kept fish alive for a couple of days without a pump without issue. Now normally I would bring an air pump but if you don't have one there is another way. Since I live out in the middle of nowhere anytime I go on vacation, visit family or head to any city I gotta take that opportunity to visit reef shops.

That's a creative solution! I'm glad you had found something to work out for you.

 

[Ron Reefman]

That's all information that's good to know! I'm enjoying looking through your snorkeling thread though now it's making me a little home sick, I noticed before when you helped me with lights that your tag was from the same town I spent a lot of my childhood visiting. I had no idea that there were so many cool things in the ocean there. I guess I never really looked or had reason to think about it. Your recent post about collecting some anemones got me thinking about this if I were to ever go back since it would really be something special to have a critter from the water there in my tank.

If you ever are back down here, please feel free to ask me all the questions you want. I want people to come here, learn about the environment, have fun and go home happy. That's a big part of why my wife and I volunteer as Shell Ambassadors for beach walks as part of the Bailey Matthews National shell museum. This one is from a January morning, that's why everybody is over dressed!

BTW, my 2 collected anemones are doing OK. One looks to be ready for my 5g holding tank and the other one keeps looking better and better, but still not out of the woods. And like you, I really enjoy having some of the creatures in my tank that are local and collected by me. Especially if they are saved from dying on the beach!

 

[starypotter]

If you ever are back down here, please feel free to ask me all the questions you want. I want people to come here, learn about the environment, have fun and go home happy. That's a big part of why my wife and I volunteer as Shell Ambassadors for beach walks as part of the Bailey Matthews National shell museum. This one is from a January morning, that's why everybody is over dressed!

BTW, my 2 collected anemones are doing OK. One looks to be ready for my 5g holding tank and the other one keeps looking better and better, but still not out of the woods. And like you, I really enjoy having some of the creatures in my tank that are local and collected by me. Especially if they are saved from dying on the beach!

Ah yes, it's been known to drop into the mid 40s those mornings I was the kid who went begged my Floridian friends to go swimming with me whenever we went down in January, never understood how they were wearing pants!
I'm glad to hear that the anemones are doing well! Where did you find them out of curiosity? We usually just frequented the Yacht Club since it was closer than going all the way to cross into Ft Meyers, but we did go to Ft Meyers beach a fair bit too. Always stuck to the pier by the Dairy Queen. I'm curious just how much cool stuff is that 'local' since you say you go to the Keys too.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ah yes, it's been known to drop into the mid 40s those mornings I was the kid who went begged my Floridian friends to go swimming with me whenever we went down in January, never understood how they were wearing pants!
I'm glad to hear that the anemones are doing well! Where did you find them out of curiosity? We usually just frequented the Yacht Club since it was closer than going all the way to cross into Ft Myers, but we did go to Ft Myers beach a fair bit too. Always stuck to the pier by the Dairy Queen. I'm curious just how much cool stuff is that 'local' since you say you go to the Keys too.

My wife and I laugh at the vacationers in the winter. We go out to Gulf Shore Beach, Lighthouse Beach or Bowman's Beach on Sanibel. It's usually after a cold front goes through which only happens about 5 to 10 times in the winter and never the rest of the year. The cold front brings a strong northwest wind and washes way more stuff up on the beach than any other time of the year! And we like to go at low tide in the morning, before too many shell collectors pick over everything and the low tide has left more stuff on the beach. So it's COLD, at least cold for us with temps in the 40's. So we have on layers of clothes and jackets and wool ski caps. But the vacationers are only there for a week or two and want as much beach time as they can get. And right after a cold front, the sky is clear blue and it looks wonderful, so they are out walking the beach or hunting for shells wearing shorts and t-shirts or bathing suits! But if you are on vacation from North Dakota, 40+ degrees in the middle of winter is a really nice day!

I found these anemones along Gulf Shore Beach. They were just laying in the damp sand a bit above the highest point the waves were washing up to. And the tide was going out, so they were stranded and destined to die. I probably set another dozen of them back into the water in hopes that they might survive. But I know that is very unlikely.

While doing beach walks we have found lots of different mollusks like Florida Fighting Conch, Horse Conch, Olives snails, Lightning Whelks and more. We find several different kinds of anemones, a couple different kinds of sea cucumbers, a couple different kinds of stars, lots of sand dollars, sometimes urchins, occasionally a purple gorgonian coral and some other odds and ends. Almost all of these guys we find on the beach end up getting put back in the water. We have saved a few small octopus and once I even saved a 2' sharpnose shark that was stranded at the edge of the water!

Now the other thing we do is collect porcelain crabs and pistol shrimp that we save from sponges that have washed up on the beach. There is a soft orange sponge that very often will have a number of porcelain crabs as well as very small stone crabs and blue crabs which are carnivores and we don't keep because they will eat our snails and hermit crabs. There are less pistol shrimp, but on really good days, after a good strong cold front, I might get a a few. These sponges are also nurseries for baby serpent and brittle stars. But the stars are much more dependant on being in the water and do not survive long even in a sponge that has washed up on the beach. If we find a very wet sponge at or just in the water, it's possible to find live stars. On Sanibel and Captiva they are illegal to collect. On Ft Myers Beach and Lovers Key they are legal to collect. You need to know the local laws.

This is me very early one morning wearing apart a sponge. I have a 6g bucket with a battery powered bubbler to keep everything alive.

Here is a close shot of a sponge being pulled apart. This sponge had 8 to 10 porcelain crabs and several small serpent stars.

Here is a view of the beach on a really good collecting day after a strong cold front. And we are lucky if this kind of day happens once or twice a year.

Here is a shot of my 'collection' from a particularly good morning this last January.

A Hitchhiker anemone that like to attach itself to the back of a big crab.


A couple of porcelain crabs and a pistol shrimp on a sea cucumber.

A green pistol shrimp


I didn't know what this even was when I collected it. It was one of many on an exposed sandbar. It turns out to be a filter feeding sea cucumber with a couple of yellow pistol shrimp hanging on to it! The shrimp weren't found with the cucumber, they came from inside sponges. I didn't even know they were native to Florida! It's been in my tanks for 7 months now and is still doing just fine.


A red porcelain crab on the sea cucumber.


A yellow pistol shrimp.

 

[Tennsquire]

I travel some for work and always pack 2-3 wide mouth thermoses. If I pick up a frag or two, they get bagged with enough water to fit a thermos and they go in my checked bag for the flight home. It's never been a problem.

 

[Mark Gray]

I have to ask something also everyone says 2 days is to long. I remember 30 to 40 years ago a fish was in a bag 7 or more days there was overnight shipping. Now there weren't many corals but just saying.. Most survived it all but I guess 80% at least

 

[starypotter]

My wife and I laugh at the vacationers in the winter. We go out to Gulf Shore Beach, Lighthouse Beach or Bowman's Beach on Sanibel. It's usually after a cold front goes through which only happens about 5 to 10 times in the winter and never the rest of the year. The cold front brings a strong northwest wind and washes way more stuff up on the beach than any other time of the year! And we like to go at low tide in the morning, before too many shell collectors pick over everything and the low tide has left more stuff on the beach. So it's COLD, at least cold for us with temps in the 40's. So we have on layers of clothes and jackets and wool ski caps. But the vacationers are only there for a week or two and want as much beach time as they can get. And right after a cold front, the sky is clear blue and it looks wonderful, so they are out walking the beach or hunting for shells wearing shorts and t-shirts or bathing suits! But if you are on vacation from North Dakota, 40+ degrees in the middle of winter is a really nice day!

I found these anemones along Gulf Shore Beach. They were just laying in the damp sand a bit above the highest point the waves were washing up to. And the tide was going out, so they were stranded and destined to die. I probably set another dozen of them back into the water in hopes that they might survive. But I know that is very unlikely.

While doing beach walks we have found lots of different mollusks like Florida Fighting Conch, Horse Conch, Olives snails, Lightning Whelks and more. We find several different kinds of anemones, a couple different kinds of sea cucumbers, a couple different kinds of stars, lots of sand dollars, sometimes urchins, occasionally a purple gorgonian coral and some other odds and ends. Almost all of these guys we find on the beach end up getting put back in the water. We have saved a few small octopus and once I even saved a 2' sharpnose shark that was stranded at the edge of the water!

Now the other thing we do is collect porcelain crabs and pistol shrimp that we save from sponges that have washed up on the beach. There is a soft orange sponge that very often will have a number of porcelain crabs as well as very small stone crabs and blue crabs which are carnivores and we don't keep because they will eat our snails and hermit crabs. There are less pistol shrimp, but on really good days, after a good strong cold front, I might get a a few. These sponges are also nurseries for baby serpent and brittle stars. But the stars are much more dependant on being in the water and do not survive long even in a sponge that has washed up on the beach. If we find a very wet sponge at or just in the water, it's possible to find live stars. On Sanibel and Captiva they are illegal to collect. On Ft Myers Beach and Lovers Key they are legal to collect. You need to know the local laws.

This is me very early one morning wearing apart a sponge. I have a 6g bucket with a battery powered bubbler to keep everything alive.

Here is a close shot of a sponge being pulled apart. This sponge had 8 to 10 porcelain crabs and several small serpent stars.

Here is a view of the beach on a really good collecting day after a strong cold front. And we are lucky if this kind of day happens once or twice a year.

Here is a shot of my 'collection' from a particularly good morning this last January.

A Hitchhiker anemone that like to attach itself to the back of a big crab.


A couple of porcelain crabs and a pistol shrimp on a sea cucumber.

A green pistol shrimp


I didn't know what this even was when I collected it. It was one of many on an exposed sandbar. It turns out to be a filter feeding sea cucumber with a couple of yellow pistol shrimp hanging on to it! The shrimp weren't found with the cucumber, they came from inside sponges. I didn't even know they were native to Florida! It's been in my tanks for 7 months now and is still doing just fine.


A red porcelain crab on the sea cucumber.


A yellow pistol shrimp.

That's awesome Ron! It's amazing so many of those things were so local. I'm really excited to go back some day. We no longer own a place down there anymore so it takes a bit more planning. Hopefully the stars will align one day soon!

 

[oceanrider]

I used to bring all sorts of marine critters back from my trips to Jamaica, Cancun, Hawaii, etc.

Longest trip I ever did was bring back special guppies from Taiwan, and some special algae freshwater . I always declare it at the customs, saying that I need to have it cleared . They usually ask me to dump the algae ( due to invasive species), but allow me to bring in the other critters. I always tell them they are tropical, and would not survive in California cold temperate waters, however, since I am a marine biologist, I tell them I would never flush any animal down drain , sink or toilet.

I always bring a battery operated pump. The flight from Taiwan to San Fran is about 11 to 13 hours back. Never had any livestock die on me.


However, once I brought back a live rock from Caribbean ( I think Bahamas) ,.... I .liiterally plucked the small palm sized rock out of the ocean seabed that morning, and took in on plane for the 9 hour total flight back ( had to change flights). But it started smelling when I was one hour into our flight, and I took it out of my carryon bag.............and it was literally crawling with hundredsd of dead or dying shrimps, gammarus, copepods, and other types of miniature animals. And they started to smell... So I tied up the plastic bag and tossed the whole thing. My mistake for trying to take fully loaded live rock with so little water or air.

 

[shred5]

Hi everyone,
As the title says, I'm curious how some of you go on vacation and bring back corals, fish, etc? Same goes for the people who travel to conventions and whatnot.
I would imagine a cooler filled with saltwater and a bubbler? This is assuming you're not able to just package up your fish and mail them back home. We used to go to Florida all the time, and we collectively hate to fly, so it's a 2 day drive. Not saying this would happen any time in the foreseeable future because darn vacations are expensive, but it has piqued my curiosity.

Flying or driving?

I used to drive to Florida and bring stuff I collected legally back in cooler with battery operated air pumps. That was probably 20 + years ago.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I travel some for work and always pack 2-3 wide mouth thermoses. If I pick up a frag or two, they get bagged with enough water to fit a thermos and they go in my checked bag for the flight home. It's never been a problem.

This is a great program for your checked baggage. But what are the rules (if any) for fluids in a checked bag?

I have to ask something also everyone says 2 days is to long. I remember 30 to 40 years ago a fish was in a bag 7 or more days there was overnight shipping. Now there weren't many corals but just saying.. Most survived it all but I guess 80% at least

I'd love to hear from somebody who was buying livestock (even if it was only fish) back before it was being shipped overnight... or even before it was shipped by air! Gees, how long ago would that have been?

That's awesome Ron! It's amazing so many of those things were so local. I'm really excited to go back some day. We no longer own a place down there anymore so it takes a bit more planning. Hopefully the stars will align one day soon!

I hope you can work out a trip down this way some day. And if seeing cool animals is a big part of the vacation, I'd suggest going to the Middle Keys rather than the Ft Myers/Naples/Cape Coral/Sanibel area. Snorkeling off the beach or even a boat in SW Florida is hardly worth the effort. Snorkeling off the beach in the Middle Keys can keep you in the water for days and hardly cost anything.

If you don't have equipment, it can be rented there. Many snorkel spots we go to are free, but a visit to Bahia Honda State Park is well worth the cost (like $9 for a car full of people) for some spectacular snorkeling. You can get to a few islands away from shore (and other people) with a rental ocean kayak. And a charter to the big reef sites run about $35/person for a 90 to 120 minutes of snorkel time. Those reef sites are typically about 5 miles southeast from the islands and are mostly deeper (5' to 30') and bigger corals... but you told to not even touch them! And you'll be out there with dozens of snorkelers from your charter boat and likely many dozens more from other charter boats all at the same time!

For me, I can find quiet spots with few if any snorkelers, off the beach or within a 1/4 mile kayak paddle (although we now use an 11' Zodiac with an small outboard). And those places are shallow, 0 to 3 feet deep typically. And if it's really cool, we can go deeper spots, but we usually like very shallow better. And they are all places where you can touch things and look under rocks for critters (which is where most of them hide during the day). And other than the State Park, if you have a Florida Saltwater Fishing License (and some people are even exempt from this requirement) you can even collect. JUST BE VERY AWARE OF THE STATE AND LOCAL REGULATIONS ON LIMITS. And some of those limits are ZERO, like any lps or sps coral, condy anemones, queen conch, bahamian sea stars, lobsters and even live rock!

Everything you need to know is online: http://myfwc.com/license/recreational/do-i-need-a-license/

 

[shred5]

JUST BE VERY AWARE OF THE STATE AND LOCAL REGULATIONS ON LIMITS. And some of those limits are ZERO, like any lps or sps coral, condy anemones, queen conch, bahamian sea stars, lobsters and even live rock!

Everything you need to know is online: http://myfwc.com/license/recreational/do-i-need-a-license/

And Gorgonia Ventalina.

 

[joqubr]

it's good to see that not all people are against the "collection" as long as the law and good intentions are part of the goal...

 

[vetteguy53081]

My wife and I laugh at the vacationers in the winter. We go out to Gulf Shore Beach, Lighthouse Beach or Bowman's Beach on Sanibel. It's usually after a cold front goes through which only happens about 5 to 10 times in the winter and never the rest of the year. The cold front brings a strong northwest wind and washes way more stuff up on the beach than any other time of the year! And we like to go at low tide in the morning, before too many shell collectors pick over everything and the low tide has left more stuff on the beach. So it's COLD, at least cold for us with temps in the 40's. So we have on layers of clothes and jackets and wool ski caps. But the vacationers are only there for a week or two and want as much beach time as they can get. And right after a cold front, the sky is clear blue and it looks wonderful, so they are out walking the beach or hunting for shells wearing shorts and t-shirts or bathing suits! But if you are on vacation from North Dakota, 40+ degrees in the middle of winter is a really nice day!

I found these anemones along Gulf Shore Beach. They were just laying in the damp sand a bit above the highest point the waves were washing up to. And the tide was going out, so they were stranded and destined to die. I probably set another dozen of them back into the water in hopes that they might survive. But I know that is very unlikely.

While doing beach walks we have found lots of different mollusks like Florida Fighting Conch, Horse Conch, Olives snails, Lightning Whelks and more. We find several different kinds of anemones, a couple different kinds of sea cucumbers, a couple different kinds of stars, lots of sand dollars, sometimes urchins, occasionally a purple gorgonian coral and some other odds and ends. Almost all of these guys we find on the beach end up getting put back in the water. We have saved a few small octopus and once I even saved a 2' sharpnose shark that was stranded at the edge of the water!

Now the other thing we do is collect porcelain crabs and pistol shrimp that we save from sponges that have washed up on the beach. There is a soft orange sponge that very often will have a number of porcelain crabs as well as very small stone crabs and blue crabs which are carnivores and we don't keep because they will eat our snails and hermit crabs. There are less pistol shrimp, but on really good days, after a good strong cold front, I might get a a few. These sponges are also nurseries for baby serpent and brittle stars. But the stars are much more dependant on being in the water and do not survive long even in a sponge that has washed up on the beach. If we find a very wet sponge at or just in the water, it's possible to find live stars. On Sanibel and Captiva they are illegal to collect. On Ft Myers Beach and Lovers Key they are legal to collect. You need to know the local laws.

This is me very early one morning wearing apart a sponge. I have a 6g bucket with a battery powered bubbler to keep everything alive.

Here is a close shot of a sponge being pulled apart. This sponge had 8 to 10 porcelain crabs and several small serpent stars.

Here is a view of the beach on a really good collecting day after a strong cold front. And we are lucky if this kind of day happens once or twice a year.

Here is a shot of my 'collection' from a particularly good morning this last January.

A Hitchhiker anemone that like to attach itself to the back of a big crab.


A couple of porcelain crabs and a pistol shrimp on a sea cucumber.

A green pistol shrimp


I didn't know what this even was when I collected it. It was one of many on an exposed sandbar. It turns out to be a filter feeding sea cucumber with a couple of yellow pistol shrimp hanging on to it! The shrimp weren't found with the cucumber, they came from inside sponges. I didn't even know they were native to Florida! It's been in my tanks for 7 months now and is still doing just fine.


A red porcelain crab on the sea cucumber.


A yellow pistol shrimp.

Wow- Treasure chest !!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ship it Or Air Cargo before you head home . Best chance for transit and survival and cuts the tape OF ATS or vehicle risk of breakdown/road delay.