Name: Clearwater Beach Baby Released: February 2007 Data Map

Biography: Clearwater is a male manatee that was rescued as an orphan in Clearwater Beach, Pinellas County on 9/12/05. He was found next to his dead mother who had passed away due to red tide exposure. Clearwater was 168 cm in length and weighed 200 lbs. Clearwater was taken to Lowry Park Zoo to recover, grow and gain weight. Clearwater was released on 2/16/07 at Warm Mineral Springs with two other rehabilitated manatees. Clearwater was 233 cm in length and weighed 580 lbs on the day of his release.

Field Notes:

2/25/07:
Moved out of Salt Creek on Sunday 2/18 and tag stopped transmitting. Relocate just outside of Salt Creek in the Myakka River and noted extreme movement activity which kept his tag below the water for long periods of time. During second observation last week, he was keeping his tag up and tag still did not update. We will attempt a tag exchange this week. He has been very social with other manatees.

5/07/07:
On April 5, located Clearwater in the Myakka River , south of Rt. 41, north of Salt Creek, lightly feeding on algae and floating Typha. Clearwater displays great boat avoidance!

On April 7, Clearwater was again found in the Myakka River at Big Slough, at the dam at North Port Blvd. He slept the entire time!!! He seems to bury his head under brush along the shoreline when he sleeps. Always goes somewhere alone to sleep.

On both April 13 and 14, was seen in the Big Slough area of the Myakka River , north of Rt. 41. No feeding was observed but Clearwater did some cute rolling around. No problems with the tag.

On April 17 Clearwater was located in the Big Slough area of the Myakka River again. He was traveling for some time. Upon arriving in a small cove he went immediately to sleep. Some larger animals in the area sleeping as well.

On April 20 Clearwater was found in the main canal of the Big Slough, Myakka River . He was cavorting with a group of three adults and one calf. He continued to stay associated with the group the entire visual.
On April 27, 28 and 30 Clearwater made a large relocation down to the Boca Grande and Turtle Bay area. He was seen socializing, resting and milling around the area. This is a very heavy boat traffic area so much of his behavior gets disturbed by boat activity. Very slight feeding possible on the 27th, but no real evidence of food in his mouth.

6/14/07:

On May 14, Clearwater was seen in the Myakka River , milling and traveling. He wasn?t with any other animals and no feeding was observed. His tag was in good condition.

On May 18, Clearwater was observed milling, traveling, w/ no observed feeding and the tag in good condition. Two very fast traveling boats came into the area ? he swam in a single fast circle once when the first boat went by, then swam to the shoreline and along it when the other boat went by. He stayed very tight to the shoreline the rest of the visual. He found a small cove behind a grassy island to rest near the end of the visual.

On May 20, Clearwater ?s tag hadn?t updated for just over 48 hours ? VHF and sonic tracking found Clearwater in the lower Myakka -- just south of Snook Haven. Once found, the VHF was tested and was working fine and updating again. Clearwater is fine and the tag is attached with no visible damage. Elizabeth Walker heard the tag indicate an update several times, however it didn?t do so on Argos . He was milling, avoided a fast travelling boat, and settled in a nook to feed, breaking typha stalks at the base and eating the roots -- he did that for quite awhile.

On May 29, Clearwater was captured for his three month health assessment. He was located near Snook Haven in the Myakka River socializing with three other adult manatees and one calf. We were able to catch Clearwater on the first net set with no difficulty. Dr. Dave Murphy from Lowry Park Zoo gave Clearwater an overall body condition of good with a body score of 3. He had lost 70 lbs. since his release on 02/06/07 . Clearwater 's skin looked good with no new markings of any kind.

Ultrasound readings showed a slight decrease in the peduncle, anus and umbilicus areas. The anus reading is taken just above the freeze brand.

Clearwater received a new tag and his belt was tightened appropriately. He was released back into the Myakka River and began milling along the shoreline. Shortly thereafter he began to travel north along the shoreline of the river.

On June 5, Clearwater was tracked in the lower Myakka. He appeared to be alone in a large, shallow bay, resting at the surface and milling. Tag was in good condition. No feeding was observed and he avoided a boat that came through.

On June 8, he was found in Charlotte Harbor , halfway between Turtle Bay and Hog Island . He was traveling at a very fast pace, north along the wall where it drops off into deeper water, possibly heading back into the Myakka. Again, he was alone -- no feeding observed.

9/18/07:
6/12/07 - 9/17/07:
Clearwater moved back and forth between the west wall of Charlotte Harbor and the Myakka River . He routinely made trips north into the Myakka River in what appeared to have been trips to obtain freshwater.

He has been observed milling, traveling, socializing and resting with other animals but occasionally he has been located alone. He has also been observed drinking at a fresh water locations with other animals. It has been difficult to confirm feeding and when we have known he was feeding, even more difficult to determine the type of vegetation he was feeding on. However, he has been confirmed feeding in areas containing both algae, halodule seagrass. At one time, Clearwater was observed eating mangrove leaves, pulling the leaves off the stems.
On 7/16/07 , Clearwater's head appeared bumpy, with evidence of sunburn or dermatitis on his snout.

Clearwater is generally very boat sensitive. In moderate boat traffic, he paces momentarily when boats approach, but resumes normal behavior once the boats pass.

11/9/07:
Clearwater was captured for his pre-winter health assessment on 11/08/07 . We had a heck of a time finding him for the first four hours of the morning. He was bottom resting in deep water and only giving us two beeps every 14 minutes when he would come up to the surface to breath. The minimal amount of beeps was due to the GPS tag attempting to take locations each time the tag surfaced. Clearwater was located alone traveling out of a canal just south of Salt Creek in the Myakka River . He was caught on the first capture attempt and was very cooperative while he was relocated from the land set onto the boat.

Blood, morphometrics, ultrasound, weight and fecal were obtained. Dr. Dave Murphy of Lowry Park Zoo gave Clearwater an overall condition of fair, with a body score of 2. He lost 45 lbs since his last health assessment on 05/29/07 and a total of 120 lbs or 21% since his release on 02/16/07. His head/peduncle areas were thin and the skin was a bit loose only around the neck area but his abdomen was round. Heart rate was 52, oral body temperature 88.3 and respiration rate was 3-5 minutes. No new scars were noted and blood values are pending.

Ultrasound readings showed decreases across the board with peduncle with all readings below normal. Umbilicus and anus girth measurements showed a tiny increase since his last health assessment with peduncle girth measurements decreasing.

Clearwater's belt, which was a custom belt smaller than a standard green belt, was very loose and we did not have anything smaller to replace it with. So the barnacles that had grown on the belt were removed and a new tag was attached. After Clearwater was released, he remained in the canal milling around. Due to the low amount of back fat and overall small size of Clearwater , we will be monitoring him closely for any signs of thermoregulatory issues as winter sets in.

3/11/08:

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