Marine animals at Mote Marine Laboratory

Mote has 2 resident dolphins. Harley above and Moonshine below. They were injured and stranded as babies and after rehabilitation they were not able to be released back in wild. Moonshine's back is covered in old sunburn scares. They do not do tricks and there is no show. You can, however, see them playing on their own.

The turtles above and below are both permanent residents at Mote as well. The above turtle, Edger, was born with a pigmentation problem which would have caused him to sunburn in the wild. He was found stranded as a baby.

There are 2 permanently injured manatees at Mote and they love to come up to the window and look at you.

You can get really close to some cool sharks. Below is a picture of one of the sharks being fed in their learning program.

I had not been to Mote in Sarasota in years. I decided to head down on a recent day off during the week hoping it would not be crowded.  It's not a big place but they have some really neat things there. They have a room full of fish aquariums, a great big octopus and cool shark tank that you can see in and look down on. My favorite place is across the street at the dolphin and whale hospital that is a part of Mote. They have dolphins, turtles and manatees that you can see up close.  The people at Mote work hard to rescue, rehab and release animals from all over Florida. The place is a great way to spend a couple of hours and learn all about these sea animals.