Another two inches of snow fell this afternoon, followed by icy sleet and rain. What further motivation is needed to take a virtual Caribbean vacation to Turtle Journal’s research home in the U.S.Virgin Islands?
Private Ferry Dock at Caneel Bay, St. John, USVI
From the airport on St. Thomas, we taxi to the docks of Charlotte Amalie to catch the private ferry to Caneel Bay on the island of St. John. As the boat arrives at Caneel Bay, we are greeted by staff with iced towels.
Turtle Grass Beds, Scott Beach, St. John, USVI
As soon as we drop our bags in the room, we race across the beach to the exquisite Caribbean waters of Caneel Bay. Scott Beach sports healthy turtle grass beds that attract green sea turtles. Hawksbill sea turtles forage on the reefs near the point between Scott Beach and Turtle Bay. Rays exploit the sandy bottom of Scott Beach searching for conchs.
Your Virtual Vacation Begins Here
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Welcome to St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
Calamari, Fresh and Live, at Honeymoon Beach
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Snorkeling the Reefs of Caneel Bay, St. John, USVI
With fog so thick you could be forgiven for mistaking Wellfleet Harbor for the Thames, Outer Cape Cod enjoys lingering mild temperatures as Thanksgiving dawns. Chilled surface waters and warm bay breezes stir a ghostly brew of mists, clouds and dampened echoes. While not actually “raining,” you soak clean through to the bone just walking down the beach.
Small Torpedo Ray Emerges from Fog
A stranded torpedo ray had been reported by cove residents earlier this week and had been spied by Mass Audubon staff last weekend near the boat ramp at Shirttail Point. The last sighting was “under the high bank at Chipman’s Cove,” which stretches from Duck Creek in the north to the springtime terrapin mating aggregation in the south. From Old Pier Landing we walked the bank south and found only a decomposing 7-foot ocean sunfish that had been buried, but was now re-surfacing through weathering tides. We headed north and discovered the torpedo ray carcass in front of a seawall and high bank opposite the town pier at Shirttail Point.
Small Torpedo Ray in Wellfleet Harbor
This carcass had been heavily depredated and was quite decomposed. It measured just a tad over one foot wide and only two & a half foot long from snout to the trailing edge of the tail fin.Â
The Stranding Weekend field adventure offered by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in mid November is clearly a hands-on, participatory event. As a gentle fall lingered into the Ides of November, there were concerns that the pre-planned Stranding Weekend would prove nothing more than “a walk on the beach.”
Breakers Roll into Scusset Beach in Bourne
Thanks to Mother Nature, Hurricane Ida, then tropical storm and finally powerful nor’easter pounded Cape Cod with driving rain and gale force winds blowing directly from the North Atlantic. While water and air temperatures remained a tad too high to induce cold-stunned sea turtle strandings, the Cape presented a variety of marine species to observe, especially during and immediately after a nor’easter.
After a wonderful candlelight dinner in the Wellfleet Bay Nature Center Friday evening, participants endured a brief stranding introduction by weekend leaders, Bob Prescott (sanctuary director), Dennis Murley (senior naturalist), Sue Wieber Nourse (marine scientist and master educator) and Don Lewis (Turtle Guy). Everyone bundled into layers upon layers of hopefully waterproof clothing, adjusted headlamps and flashlights, loaded into the Mass Audubon van and the Turtle Journal Element and headed to Chapin Beach in Dennis in search for stranded creatures at the nighttime high tide.
Sandy Neck Teams
Led by Dennis Murley (center) & Sue Wieber Nourse (right)
Bright and early Saturday morning, participants geared up again. Two teams led by Dennis Murley and Sue Wieber Nourse climbed in the van to head to the Sandy Neck barrier beach in West Barnstable. With winds blowing from the east northeast, stranded animals were more likely to be found on beaches at the west end of Cape Cod.
Chipman’s Cove Team Discovers Quarter Ton Ocean Sunfish
Another team under Don Lewis patrolled Scusset Beach on the other side of Cape Cod Canal in Bourne, then hit Campground Beach in Eastham to confirm the stranding of a juvenile torpedo ray and finally visited Chipman’s Cove in Wellfleet to document a freshly stranded male ocean sunfish.
Examination of Male Ocean Sunfish at Chipman’s Cove
After teams reassembled at the Sanctuary for a great lunch, it was time to saddle up and put our backs into the enormous channel of moving the quarter ton, male ocean sunfish from the beach at Chipman’s Cove to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary for a scientific necropsy. You may recall that the scientific name for ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is derived from the Latin word for millstone. Perhaps that gives you some idea of the challenge ahead.
Nothing creates comraderie more solidly than a backbreaking team build … and moving a quarter ton deadweight more than qualifies as a backbreaking exercise.  You sign up for hands-on experience; you get hands-on experience!Â
Measuring Length of Male Ocean Sunfish
Back at the sanctuary with the Mola mola intact, participants began the process of taking detailed measurements. Krill Carson of NEBShark joined the leadership team on Saturday for a scientific necropsy of the ocean sunfish.
Measuring Dorsal Fin of Male Ocean Sunfish
Once external measurements were completed, a detailed necropsy commenced to scientifically document the anatomy of the Mola mola species and to collect certain tissue samples for further analysis. During the autopsy, we determined that this animal was a male.
Juvenile Female Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle
The next morning began with a necropsy of a juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtle that had stranded on Sandy Neck beach the previous weekend.Â
Bob Prescott Prepares Necropsy of Female Kemp’s RidleyÂ
Despite a large, well-healed probable shark bite in its lower right quadrant, this specimen was assessed to have been in rather healthy condition prior to getting trapped and cold-stunned in Cape Cod Bay. Based on the autopsy, the gender of this animal was determined to have been female.
Necropsy completed, participants headed to the Town Pier to board the Naviator for a two hour cruise of Wellfleet Bay. The destination would be Jeremy Point and Billingsgate Shoals at the southern end of the Great Island peninsula. The calm after the storm (Hurrican Ida) brought a thick fog that lay like a comforting blanket over the seascape. Shorebirds, driven by gale winds to seek shelter in Wellfleet Bay, filled the harbor. About a half mile west of Indian Neck, we encountered a bull pilot whale … a rare sighting from the Naviator. Mass pilot whale stranding have occurred with such frequency in Wellfleet that one of its principal estuaries is named Blackfish Creek after the species.
Curious Gray and Harbor Seals Lounge on Sandbar
On a sandbar off Jeremy Point, we ran into a large gathering of gray and harbor seals, many of whom were as curious about us as we were about them.
Turtle Journal visited Chipman’s Cove in Wellfleet on Outer Cape Cod this morning.  Parking at the end of Old Pier Road, we found a fairly fresh ocean sunfish carcass about 25 feet to the right/north of the Town Landing.
Ocean Sunfish Snout, Mouth, Eye, Gills and Pectoral Fin
Using Don’s sneakers as a gross ruler, this sunfish measured ~ 5 feet long and ~ 6 feet wide/high.
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Seven Foot Ocean Sunfish in Chipman’s Cove
Fifty feet to the left/south of the Old Pier Town Landing, we discovered a rapidly decomposing ocean sunfish. Gross measurements yielded a length of ~ 7 feet and a width/height of 7.5 feet.
The video documents the two ocean sunfish Turtle Journal discovered in Wellfleet’s Chipman’s Cove today.
Partially Necropsied Ocean Sunfish on Lieutenant Island
Our next stop was the west shore of Lieutenant Island to check out a reported ocean sunfish that had stranded last weekend. This specimen had been partially necropsied to ascertain its gender … before an astronomic 12-foot tide could strand the team on the island.
Pilot Whale Bones Emerge from Old Salt Marsh
About 100 yards north of the stranded sunfish, winter tides have eroded the beach on the west shore of Lieutenant Island, once again exposing pilot whale bones from the peet of a long dead salt marsh. Last year we found four pilot whale skeletons in this area before summer sands raised the beach level above this burial site. See Discovery of Historic Pilot Whale Bones Hints at Cape Cod’s Past.
Exposed Pilot Whale Bones on Lieutenant Island
With giant ocean sunfish and pilot whales, Turtle Journal had a BIG day this Thursday.Â
Yet, there was still more to come. CapeCast, the broadcast vehicle of the Cape Cod Times, published a delightfully hilarious and informative video on the large ocean sunfish that Turtle Journal discovered this weeked at Corporation Beach in Dennis. See Ocean Sunfish Strandings Continue on Cape Cod.Â
Click here or on the picture above to watch the CapeCast video … and ENJOY!
The Turtle Journal Team patrolled Dennis beaches on Saturday morning in search for cold-stunned sea turtles. The first wave of sea turtle strandings has yet to come ashore due to lingering temperate conditions and the lack of a sustained wind event so far this fall. About a quarter mile short of Corporation Beach, Don discovered a large ocean sunfish that had stranded with the early morning high tide.
Location of Dennis Ocean Sunfish
The Dennis ocean sunfish came ashore at 41° 44′ 56.35″ N 070° 11″ 52″ W. Within the last week at least five ocean sunfish have stranded on Cape Cod bayside beaches. None that the Turtle Journal Team has inspected have measured up to the 7-footers that we found last November.
The video documents the initial discovery of the giant ocean sunfish on Corporation Beach during Saturday morning’s sea turtle patrol.
Stranded Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola)
When it comes to bizarre, nothing in our corner of the universe matches the ocean sunfish (Mola mola). It’s the most massive bony fish in the world. [Yep. That “bony” adjective excludes sharks (cartilaginous) and, of course, the “fish” category cuts out whales and dolphins (mammals) and giant squid (cephalopods) and even our favorite sea serpent: Nessie. Doesn’t seem fair.] Researchers in the Pacific claim that they have documented an ocean sunfish that reached 14 feet (from dorsal fin tip to anal fin tip) and 10 feet long from face to clavus (caudal fin), and hit the scales at near 5000 pounds.
Sue Wieber Nourse Photo-Documents Ocean Sunfish
That’s right: nearly round, flat and awfully heavy … like a millstone and voilà , the Latin word for millstone is “mola.â€Â Yet, un-millstone like, the ocean sunfish swims lithely through the water not flat like a flounder, but upright with its dorsal fin topside and its anal fin beneath. As the sunfish cuts through the ocean, its dorsal fin often prompts shouts of “shark†from nervous observers. Sunfish are also known to bask motionlessly on the surface for thermoregulation (a.k.a., to warm up).
Makeshift Measuring Box for Stranded Mola mola
The sea patrol leg to Corporation Beach stretches two miles long. So unsurprisingly, we ran into the stranded ocean sunfish without our usual data collection kit. Fearing that the incoming 12-foot flood tide would quickly reclaim the Mola mola, we resorted to a makeshift measuring box to obtain gross data. In the sand we drew a rectangle touching the tip to the anal fin, tip of the dorsal fin, tip of the snout and trailing edge of the clavus (rudder) or caudal fin. Luckily, my New Balance sneakers measure exactly one foot from heel to toe, providing a roughly calibrated ruler.
Ocean Sunfish Framed in Makeshift Measuring Box
This Corporation Beach Mola mola measured 5 feet 3 inches long from snout to the trailing edge of caudal fin.  It measured 6 feet 6 inches wide/high from the tip of the dorsal fin to the tip of the anal fin.
Documenting the Ocean Sunfish
Looking at the ocean sunfish from the bottom, we find the snout, the mouth and the left eye to the left side of the photograph. The gills, covered by an operculum, and the pectoral fin are located anterior of the center. The dorsal fin lies at the top right and the anal fin on the bottom center. The clavus (rudder), also called the caudal fin, falls to the right center of the image. A raw redness surrounds the anal opening on the bottom and is dotted with embedded parasites.
Front Quadrant of Ocean Sunfish
The snout lies above the mouth to the left of the picture. The left eye falls in the line between the snout and the pectoral fin, which is bent downward in the image. In front of the pectoral fin are the gills covered by a protective operculum. Dorsal (top) and anal (bottom) fins extend from the body at the far right. The anal opening lies in front of the anal fin on the bottom right.
Close-Up of the Ocean Sunfish Mouth
Note the fused teeth that frame the top and bottom of the Mola mola mouth.
Extreme Close-Up of the Ocean Sunfish Left Eye
The eye lies about midway between the snout and the operculum that covers of the gills in front of the pectoral fin.
Close-Up of Operculum and Pectoral Fin of Ocean Sunfish
About a third of the way back from the snout lies the gills which are covered by a protective operculum. Immediately behind the gills is the pectoral fin.
Extreme Close-Up of the Operculum of an Ocean Sunfish
The protective operculum covers the gills that lie immediately in front of the pectoral fin.
Ocean Sunfish Clavus or Caudal Fin
The truncated tail of the ocean sunfish is called a clavus (rudder) or caudal fin.
Parasite Embedded Near Anal Opening of Ocean Sunfish
A number of parasites were fully embedded around the anal opening, in front of the anal fin, of this ocean sunfish. Some of the parasites had fallen off the animal now dry and baking in direct sunlight.
Extreme Close-Up of Ocean Sunfish Parasite
Along with pictures of the infestation, a specimen has been provided to a local parasitolgist. Analysis of the parasite continues.
Ocean Sunfish on Corporation Beach, Dennis, Cape Cod
The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is a magnificent marine critter that inspires awe whenever spotted, whether basking in the summer waters of Stellwagen Bank or stranded on a bayside beach in the fall conditions.
