The Wilderness Coast - Softcover

Rudloe, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0820012076 ISBN 13: 9780820012070

Publisher: Great Outdoors Publishing Company, 2004

Synopsis

The "wilderness coast"--that portion of the Florida Panhandle that juts south into the Gulf of Mexico--is the home of Gulf Specimen Company, and the source of most of the marine creatures that it supplies to educational institutions and research facilities. But the pursuit of the unusual sea creatures and the answers to puzzling biological questions take biologists Jack and Anne Rudloe elsewhere, too. They have travelled to Surinam to catch giant toadfish for the New York Aquarium, to the Florida Keys to study immature spiny lobsters, and to Port Canaveral's ship channel to rescue endangered sea turtles from the crushing jaws of the dredge. They have plumbed the depths of the Gulf of Mexico to find prehistoric-looking giant sea roaches, and explored the life histories--and mysteries--of electric rays, octopuses, horseshoe crabs, and other fascinating marine animals in the course of their daily business. Like any profession, specimen collecting has its attendant hazards: for instance, being slashed by a sawfish, zapped by an electric ray, nipped by a sawfish, zapped by an electric ray, nipped by an annoyed sea turtle, or attacked by an alligator. More perilous yet is being caught offshore in violent storm in a less-than-seaworthy boat. Jack Rudloe's knowledge of marine biology and ability to tell a good story have made this entertaining and informative book a natural history classic.

About this title

About the Author

Jack Rudloe has been a resident of the Florida Panhandle since he was a teenager, and established Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea in 1964. He and his wife Anne, a marine biologist and photographer, have published articles in Audubon, National Geographic, National Wildlife, Natural History, Scientific American and Smithsonian. His work has been the subject of a number of documentaries on public radio and television. In conjunction with his books and environmental conservation activities he has appeared on The Today Show and Good Morning America and has been interviewed on PBS, Fox, and other networks. He is the author of five other nonfiction books and one novel, Potluck. Gulf Specimen marine Laboratories has expanded its activities beyond the collection and sale of marine creatures. In addition to doing biological research and providing consulting services, its premises now also serve as an interactive educational exhibit. The lab is open to the public and is visited by an ever-increasing number of school children as part of their study of our natural world. At any time, between 100 and 200 species of fish and invertebrates are on display in a constantly changing aquatic menagerie that includes touch tanks and informative, illustrated story boards. You may pay a "virtual visit" to the aquarium on the internet by visiting the website at www.gulfspecimen.org. If you are planning to be in the Florida Panhandle and wish to visit the lab in person, please call to arrange a guided tour: (850) 984-5297.

From Publishers Weekly

As owner of a biological supply house, Rudloe (The Sea Holds Forth, etc.) makes his living collecting and studying marine organisms in the waters off Florida's Gulf Coast. The ocean and the wetlands of the area, largely unexplored, contain many exotic and beautiful creatures, and the author's adventures there make exciting reading. He gathers electric rays (fish that can deliver strong electric shocks), tracks baby horseshoe crabs, makes friends with octopuses, saves loggerhead turtles from the dredging operations of the Army Corps of Engineers, captures giant toadfish and monster sea roaches for the New York Aquarium, fights alligators and searches for crocodiles. A conservationist, he respects the sea and is captivated by its mysterious inhabitants. He describes in vivid detail a world that few of us will ever experience firsthand. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Great Outdoors Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0820012076
• ISBN 13: 9780820012070
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 262