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POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Women are integral to the day-to-day operation of Jenkinson’s Aquarium, which marked the International Day of Women and Girls in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] on Feb. 11. Last week, The Ocean Star took a tour of the facility, interviewing the women who keep the aquarium running about their roles.
One particular initiative at Jenkinson’s Aquarium involves two women, Angela Pizza and Victoria Rotondo, who are caring for a few special guests — corals from the Caribbean Sea. The vulnerable corals, which are animals, have been found to be susceptible to a disease called stony coral tissue-loss disease.
“In 2019, Jenkinson’s Aquarium was chosen to work with federal and state agencies as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project [AZA-FRTRP],” the aquarium said in a recent press release. “This project helps save corals susceptible to stony coral tissue-loss disease along the Florida Reef Tract.”
Stony coral tissue-loss disease manifests as large white lesions on certain coral species and is likely caused by either a bacterium or a virus — research has not yet determined the true origin of the disease. According to the press release, the research of coral at Jenkinson’s is helping to bring awareness to the coral and the dangers it faces, to answer questions such as the nature of the ailment.
“Our aquarists have managed and propagated corals for years and were excited to put their knowledge to use in the project,” it said. “This was also a wonderful opportunity to educate our guests about the FRT and the disease, since many love our coral aquariums and have seen coral reefs while visiting Florida. With the support of the aquarium’s owners, Jenkinson’s Aquarium volunteered to hold AZA-FRTRP corals.”
Aquarists Ms. Pizza and Ms. Rotondo, who care for the corals being researched, showed The Ocean Star the aquarium’s land-based nursery beneath the main building, where the corals are propagated and cared for. Ms. Pizza explained that the aquarium is a “primary holder” of the corals, meaning it qualified for the first round of corals collected from the wild.
“These are collected from a region that [the AZA] considered to be ‘clean’ — where they weren’t seeing the stony coral tissue-loss disease, which is what the hard corals from Florida are suffering from,” she said. “So, they took corals from clean areas and sent them to facilities who now house them.”
“[Researchers] have now started doing genome sequencing on the corals, and certain places are actually breeding these guys,” she said. “There have become a lot of different facets to this program. Right now, we’re holding them.”
Ms. Pizza then said that the current occupants of one of the tanks are essentially “baby” corals; small, generally healthy samples that have not yet grown to cover the plates they rest on in the tank.
The corals, of which there are several species at the aquarium, are held in a long, shallow tank intended to mimic the animals’ natural habitat around the Florida Keys and the Caribbean. In addition to corals, the tanks house fish, algae and invertebrates like urchins that are native to the area.
Ms. Rotondo pointed out that some of the specimens were in the process of reproducing. While some corals can spawn in the wild, in the aquarium the samples are able to reproduce asexually, which resembles a rocky tendril growing out from the coral. She also explained how they eat.
“They’re fed three times a week, believe it or not. [Corals] actually have hundreds of little mouths. We did a feed this morning…they are carnivores. We feed them…tiny, tiny krill…we also give them a mix of a whole bunch of different things; roe, arthropods, oyster peas and a powder that’s kind of like a vitamin to them.”
Ms. Pizza, who has been an aquarist with Jenkinson’s for over 20 years, is also a local, having grown up in Point Beach and currently living in Point Pleasant Borough.
“Marine biology — from what my parents told me — has forever been what I’ve talked about. My parents were behind me all the way,” she said. “I went to Stockton, got my bachelor of science in marine biology…and I did an internship here at the aquarium during my college days. And I was lucky enough for them to hire me right after college; I’ve been doing that ever since.”
Ms. Rotondo, who currently attends Unity College in Maine, said that her story with the aquarium started differently, saying, “I currently still am in school; I always wanted to do it when I was younger, but my parents didn’t support me…I’m doing my coursework remotely online.”
She said that her daughter, who is two-and-a-half years old, is a source of inspiration for her, and she is intent on setting a good example for her.
“When I had my daughter, I said, ‘I want her to do what she wants to do when she gets older, so I should be the person showing her that she should do what she wants to,’ and I went back to school,” she said.
Guests will be invited to view the corals with upcoming behind-the-scenes tours. The tours are from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 14, Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 19. Online pre-registration is required at jenkinsons.com/aquarium.
This is an excerpt of the print article. For more on this story, read The Ocean Star—on newsstands Friday or online in our e-Edition.
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