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New loggerhead sea turtle “Abe” is on exhibit – Video

By Virginia Fishes In Virginia Fishes

The juvenile loggerhead we acquired in October from NC Aquariums is now on exhibit in our Chesapeake Bay Aquarium. The time between his acquisition and his exhibit debut on December 26th was well spent getting him (there actually is no way to tell the gender for many years) acclimated to his feeding schedule through target training. Because Abe now comes to the surface regularly to be fed and has grown accustomed to tank mates, he has graduated from the 1000 holding system to the 30,000 gallon exhibit. He not only has much more space to roam, but also has a much more stimulating environment.

As seen in the first video, Abe – like all our other sea turtles before him – loves to hang out and sleep in the “cave”. Though the cave is natural rock we collected nearby, its base structure is an eight foot long acrylic aquarium with plenty of holes cut into is for many entry and exit passages. Abe shares the cave with our resident gag grouper, who has been at the museum for over twelve years.

So far Abe has settled in nicely to his new home and exhibits no fear of his new tank mates. He has shown to be both calm and inquisitive; good signs for long term success. The videos were taken on a dive his first day on exhibit.