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.
