Name: Xena Released: February 2006 Data Map

Biography: Xena is a female manatee that was rescued with her mother at Port of the Isles, Collier County on 12/29/04. Xena was 190 cm in length and weighed 275 lbs. Her mother had received severe injuries from a boat strike and unfortunately died later in captivity from these wounds. Xena remained at SeaWorld of Florida, and under their care, continued to grow and gain weight without her mother. Xena was released on 2/15/06 at Warm Mineral Springs with two other rehabilitated manatees. Xena was 237 cm in length and weighed 790 lbs at her release.

Xena, PGB and FMB (FMB not tagged) were released into WMS on 2/15/06 between 1030 and 1230. There were at least 14 manatees in the creek.

Xena socialized and explored the banks after her releases. PGB and FMB also explored the banks but spent time socializing with each other and had not discovered the group of manatees just down the creek upon our departure.

Field Notes:

2/22/06:
Xena moved out of Salt Creek on 2/18 into Myakka River and has been seen exploring new areas. She has not been observed with other animals by staff but residents in the Myakka River have reported seeing her with other animals.

4/3/06:
Xena was quick to move out of Salt Spring. She was observed on 3/2/06 in Turtle Bay, a very well known feeding area for manatees in Port Charlotte. She has been seen feeding and socializing with other manatees in the area from time to time. Our concerns are beginning to rise because this is a salt water environment and she has not left this area in over a month to seek freshwater. Other tagged manatees that have used Turtle Bay as a feeding site have moved up to either the Peace or Myakka River to obtain their fresh water on a 7-10 day interval. We might want to consider an early health assessment on Xena to investigate possible dehydration issues.

5/11/06:
Xena has remained south of Turtle Bay since her tag exchange on 5/4/06. She is over areas of Halodule and has been seen feeding on numerous occasions. Her body condition looked good dorsally but ventral view was too brief to give clear indication of condition. She has been seen most of the time with other animals and has great boat avoidance...for an area which is supposed to be idle speed with minimal compliance.

5/24/06:
Xena was captured on 05/17/06 for her three month health assessment. She was located in the north pass inside Boca Grande bottom resting alone. We were able to catch Xena on the first set with little difficulty.
Blood, morphometrics, ultrasound, weight, fecal and skin cultures were obtained. Dr. Beth from SeaWorld of Florida gave Xena an overall condition of poor to good, with a body score of 3. She had lost 155 lbs since her release on 02/15/06 . Fecal sample consistence was loose. She had extensive amounts of dermatitis on her body primarily around her head, flippers and between her head and upper abdomen area. Culture samples were obtained for further analysis. Xena had also received a recent laceration to the peduncle area. We anticipate this boat strike occurred sometime between 5/11 and 5/14 based on her drastic change in behavior. Blood values obtained on site indicated a low creatinine value but other values indicated muscle trauma.

Xena received a new belt and tag and was released back into Boca Grande waterways. She milled around the bank initially and then began to travel south within the canal system. Other animals were noted in the area about the same time last visual was obtained.

7/6/06:
Xena's tag and partial tether were recovered on 7/6/06 . The tag received damage due to a prop cut and the tether was also severed. Equipment was recovered in the mangroves just east of the mouth of Coral Creek, Gasparilla Sound. Xena still has her belt so there is a chance for retagging but she also has half of a tether trailing behind her. We will continue to sonic the area for PGB... and now little Miss Xena too. Xena had been using the areas around northern Boca Grande to Coral Creek throughout June before her tag loss. She was usually near other manatees but her activity level had decreased the week before her tag came off.

7/7/06:
Xena's tether was not cut in half...the nose cone received a prop cut and broke off a portion near the eyebolt. This means Xena has a full tether still attached to her belt. Her tag had a series of two cuts that were noticed last week....the cut to the nose cone was at the same angle as the other two cuts. We are thinking that possibly it took a few days for the nose cone to break completely in half from the prop cut.

7/12/06:
Xena was relocated by sonic tracking on 7/11/06. She was alone milling around a marina just off Coral Creek. A safety was clipped onto her old tether and the eye bolt of the her old damaged tag was removed from the joiner. As usual, when you do anything to the joiner (this is even the quick snap shackle version) she bolts. True to form, once the joiner was opened she swam quickly away and played hide and seek in between the boats for the next few hours. At high tide, Xena moved out of the marina onto the grass flats where we were able to finish the tag exchange.

Xena looked GREAT! No new scars and she appeared to have a round belly. The area she is currently occupying is shallow except for the channels. Boat traffic in this area is extensive and fast. Lets hope she finds a calmer area soon.

10/19/06:
We have not relocated Xena since 7/15/06 , the day after she lost her second tag. We have spent many hours on the water sonic tracking. We have even been able to coordinate with the WT aerial survey crew to let us know where they see animals during their flight of the Gasparilla Sound/Lemon Bay area so we could go to those locations to sonic for belts. But Xena remains MIA. A belted manatee was sighted with other animals in the Gasparilla marina on 10/9/06 and 10/10/06 but these sightings were not reported immediately. We anticipate the sightings were of Xena since this was once a site she used regularly. Staff from the FWC Port Charlotte field station sonic tracked the area on 10/9/06 without success and both FWC and WT sonic tracked the area on 10/10/06 . Our listening sonic buoys in the area did not pick up a sonic signal on either day. Thus there might be a chance Xena’s sonic is no longer working. Or it could simply be she swam too fast past the buoy for detection and was able to elude the trackers yet again.

12/14/06:
Xena was resighted by the Mote photoID team in Matlacha on 12/11/06. WT was able to track her by sonic as she moved out of the area. We are planning on moving our sonic buoys from the Boca Grande area to key spots around Matlacha to help us relocate Xena in the near future. Thanks Mote team for the visual!!

3/27/07:
I am very sorry to report Xena's carcass was recovered near Ft. Myers beach yesterday by FWC SW field staff. This area has had an abnormally high mortality rate over the past week with red tide as the suspected cause. At this time, we do not know the cause of her death but I will keep you informed of the necropsy results once notification is received.

Xena used Matlacha Isles throughout the winter of 2005/2006. She was noted moving in/out of these canals to feeding areas on a routine basis which mimicked wild population use of this site. Thus, she was usually in close association with other animals during our observations. Our last sonic location of Xena in Matlacha Isles was on 2/19/07. The last sighting we received of her location was in the Ft. Myers beach area on 2/26/07 reported to FWC by the public.

Follow up information post-necropsy:
Katie Brill from FWC just informed me that Xena was 244 cm in length and weighed 313.5 kg or 690 lbs at the time of necropsy. The current findings for mortality was Natural/Other with no apparent clinical signs of red tide that are normally seen by necropsy. There is a possibility there is a different kind of red tide effecting the animals in the Ft. Myers area thus producing different clinical signs than previously seen before. Samples were obtained and sent out for ELISA.


Back to Manatee Updates