-Funding for "Coastal Kingdom" is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, which proudly supports this program.

Through the generosity of our members and donors, the ETV Endowment has funded educational and entertaining programming like "Coastal Kingdom" for more than 40 years.

♪♪ ♪♪ -There are a couple of things in here.

I see a couple little yellow-bellied sliders.

Boy, these are little guys.

Little, tiny ones.

But there's something else in here.

Something really a little bit different.

So set these guys back in for just a minute.

But this and this is what I want to show you.

This is not a yellow-bellied slider.

In fact, if you look closely, you can see it has a red ear.

This is a red-eared slider.

And this is a species that's native to the Mississippi River basin, sort of the central United States.

But not only has it spread into the Low Country, it's spread throughout the world.

And it's because of the pet trade.

This species is pretty much everywhere.

In fact, it's one of the most common turtles in the world.

In this episode, we're gonna look at more introduced species, like this red-eared slider that have moved into the Low Country.

♪♪ ♪♪ So look at that little guy.

Okay, we got something big on.

There we go.

We've got the bird.

And there's already a chick in there.

♪♪ ♪♪ When I was a kid, it seems like everybody had a pet turtle, and they generally bought it at the pet store, and it was even smaller than these little guys.

I mean, this big or so and turtles are really cute.

So this young turtle, in fact, we can look at it and tell it's about a year old or so.

So this is probably last year's hatchling, but it has its head pulled all the way in, so you can't really see its head.

But if you could, you'd see a big yellow blotch on the side of the head instead of that red ear that you see in the red-eared slider.

So everybody wanted one as a pet.

But the problem is this species, yellow-bellied slider, and the red-eared slider, the introduced one, they get much, much bigger.

I mean, females get this big around.

So people got tired of the pet.

It got too big for the enclosure that they were keeping it in.

And so they just took it out to a pond like this and let it go.

And turtles live a long time.

That's another reason why turtles don't make particularly good pets.

Some species can live 40, 50, 60 years or more.

Now, the problem with that is if it was a turtle that was already here, that's bad enough.

But if you start releasing species of turtles that don't naturally live there, they can become introduced and outcompete the native species.

And that's what's happened with this red-eared slider.

So this species, I mean, that's a pretty good-sized turtle.

It's not as big as a yellow belly, but -- but close.

So the first thing is, how do we know that this is a red-eared slider and not a yellow belly?

Well, obviously the red ear is one indication.

I'm not gonna reach my hand in there, but there's also tons of pigment on the plastron, the lower part of the shell.

So that's kind of a dead giveaway, too.

And there typically aren't spots right here.

So let's take a closer look at this turtle.

First of all, I can look at it and tell that it's -- it's a female.

Males generally don't get quite this big.

Sometimes but -- but rarely.

And then the other thing is I can look at the claws.

And this has really short, little claws.

Males have much longer claws.

And also it has a little, tiny tail.

So if this was a male, the tail would be quite a bit longer and thicker.

So these red-eared sliders, as I was saying, are introduced all over the world.

I mean, they're almost everywhere that's warm enough to have them, and they usually end up in ponds like this, generally around people.

And that makes sense because people, as I said, get tired of having them as pets.

And they go, let them go and they survive.

So there are laws now.

So you can only have a turtle smaller than 4 inches if it's used for sort of educational or scientific purposes.

So technically you can get a permit to have a red-eared slider, but they're not available just in the pet trade.

These guys are established throughout much of the United States and as I said, across the world.

And the reality is they're not going anywhere.

But what we can do is learn a lesson from these red-eared sliders and realize that if you get tired of a pet, you can't just take it out to the local pond and let it go.

♪♪ Alright, guys, I want to show you something really cool.

So a friend of mine called me last night, and he said that he had caught one of these.

And I have not seen one of these in South Carolina before.

Let me show you what I'm talking about.

Now, I have to be a little bit careful how I... That was very close.

You'll see what I mean in just a minute.

This is really interesting.

I'm not sure I'm...

I'm gonna let him crawl out first of all and look at that animal.

So this is actually one of the land crabs.

This is a Caribbean land crab.

Let's see if I can get a handle on the claws.

There we go.

And look at this beautiful animal.

So this is one that has been found in South Carolina quite a bit lately, actually.

But they're native to the Caribbean, actually, throughout the tropics.

It's very common in South Florida, and it gets much bigger than this.

And so this is a little guy.

This is a youngster for sure.

It looks like a young male.

I can tell by the apron.

It's got a male-looking apron.

And also it's got this one big claw.

And like the fiddler crabs, this species, the males have one big claw and one small claw.

Look at the wonderful eyestalks so it can -- Its eyes can stick way up high so it can see well.

And these are beautiful crabs.

And they change color as they grow.

So this is a blue land crab.

Cardisoma is the genus.

Definitely Cardisoma.

And again I've caught lots of these in South Florida.

In fact they come way up the state into Central Florida.

But lately we've been seeing them in South Carolina, so we don't really know what kind of effect -- If these become more and more common in South Carolina, we don't know what kind of effect they're gonna have on other animals, especially other crabs, because these are omnivores.

So they'll eat pretty much anything.

And I would assume they would eat smaller crabs if given the chance.

But really impressive.

And I wish you could see an adult because they are big crabs.

And actually in South Florida and other parts of the tropics, people eat these, so it's actually supposed to be pretty good to eat.

Now, one of the things that makes this so interesting is it's a land crab.

So this is an animal that can get way away from the water.

In fact, this one was found in a yard, I mean, pretty close to the marsh, but a ways away for sure.

So they have modified gills that allow them to -- As long as the gills stay wet, they can breathe oxygen, which is a really neat trick for a crab for sure.

Periodically these things will dig down to the water table, which might be 3 meters.

I mean, we're talking huge holes.

And then they can get the gills wet and stay in the water for a while.

Also, this crab is reliant on the ocean for reproduction.

So in other words, it has to go back to the water to mate and lay its eggs.

So this is a species we don't see here very often, but it started to show up.

So looks like this may end up being one of the invasive species.

It's hard to say whether it's native or not because obviously it's in South Florida, but it hasn't been in South Carolina, that's for sure.

♪♪ So if you look right here on the side of the building, you'll notice there's a ladybug.

Actually, this is a ladybird beetle because it's not a true bug.

So it doesn't belong to the order of insects -- the bugs.

It's a beetle.

In fact, lots of insects are beetles.

It's one of the largest orders of insects.

And not only is this a ladybird beetle, it's hard to not call it a ladybug.

Now, the way I know that this is the invasive one, the Asian one, is if you look closely on the pronotum, you'll notice that it makes kind of an "M" shape.

And it's not evident on all these.

But a lot of times you can see that and there's actually a few of them around.

This is one of the more spotted ones.

So this isn't the only species.

I mean, there's lots of different kinds.

And this particular one is a multicolored one, so it can be heavily spotted, or it can be relatively plain, but you pretty much always can see that "M" shape on the pronotum.

So this is an introduced one, an invasive species that was brought into the United States specifically to kill aphids.

Now, these beetles are particularly good at eating aphids.

They're voracious predators, both as larvae and also as adults.

Aphids can do some real damage to crops and all kinds of things, so a single beetle like this can eat lots of aphids in one sitting, partially because they're so small.

The question is, are these dangerous?

And the answer is probably not.

They're probably relatively neutral, so they may outcompete our native species a little bit.

But it's not like they're wreaking havoc and doing irreparable damage or anything like that.

These beetles can protect themselves a couple of different ways.

They can kind of play dead and just become almost dormant.

They also have that hard elytra covering.

And that's actually -- On beetles, one set of wings flies and then the elytra is that hard covering that covers up those wings.

And it happens to be very thick and very protective.

So they can just kind of pull their legs in and sit against the material like this, and that protects them.

The other thing they can do is exude a substance that's somewhat toxic and foul, and that probably deters a lot of predators.

That being said, a lot of things eat these beetles.

You know, toads will eat them, and frogs and birds will eat them.

And, you know, lots of things.

But generally in nature, if you see a brightly colored animal like this, it may mean that it's toxic or that it tastes bad or something like that.

So the bright colors kind of give it away, that it's not delicious to most animals.

You know, when you talk about ladybugs, like people call them, you lump them all together and you're talking about hundreds and hundreds of species of beetles, of these beetles.

They look different.

They have slightly different behaviors.

But when you start looking at insects, you realize that there's just such tremendous diversity.

You can't possibly know all the different species.

And it is pretty neat to know that we have such diversity right here in the Low Country.

So let me grab one of these.

I see another one right up here.

Let me see if I can get it in my hand.

See if it'll crawl up on my fingers.

There we go.

Well, they're beautiful little beetles.

So that one just took off.

But, you know, they move very slowly, and they look kind of like turtles.

So it really surprises you when they lift those elytra and then fly off.

♪♪ ♪♪ Today we get to spend the day with Lisa Kovalanchik.

And she's the curator of UGA Aquarium, and she's agreed to spend the day with us and show us the aquarium and talk a little bit about invasive species.

-Yeah.

Thanks for being here.

-Lisa, thanks for doing this.

Lisa and I used to work together for a couple of years, so we're good friends.

And, boy, this is a beautiful facility.

So what is the mission of the aquarium here?

-Well, we're a part of the University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant.

So that means that we are actually part of the University of Georgia's public service and outreach unit.

And we work to, you know, encourage others to protect Georgia's coastline through education, research and extension work.

-So most of what you guys have here are native species, right?

-Yes.

-But I know you've done a little bit of work with invasive species and have some of those on display.

So one of the things I was hoping we could do is take a look at some of those.

-Absolutely.

Yeah.

We focus on species that are found on the Georgia coast.

So most of what we have is native species.

But we do have a few examples of invasive species, too.

-Well, can we take a look around?

-Yeah.

Let's go.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Okay.

So this is one of the things we came to see, right?

-Yes, absolutely.

-So these are lionfish.

-Red lionfish.

-Red lionfish.

So is this typical size?

-Yeah.

They grow to be... You know, common size is what you see here.

You know, about up to 12 inches.

I think maximum is about 15 inches total length.

-So the dorsal spines and the pelvic spines -- or some of the pelvic spines -- are what get you, right?

-Yeah.

They're really known for being a venomous species.

They're actually in the family of scorpion fishes.

These guys have venomous spines on the dorsal fins.

So the fins all along the top, the pelvic fins, which are the ones here, kind of the paired fins on the front of the body and then also the anal fin has spines.

-So there's a lot of ways they can get you.

-Yes, exactly.

Steer clear.

-And the sting is no joke.

Right?

It's really serious.

-Yes.

So I mean, it's gonna cause localized, you know, intense pain, but also stomach issues, you know, headaches, maybe seizures, heart problems, blood-pressure issues.

-Sounds awful.

-Yeah, steer clear.

-So where did these come from?

I know they're introduced here, but where did they come from?

How long have they been here?

-Well, they are an Indo-Pacific species and that is their native range.

But they were introduced, I believe, in the mid 1980s.

But there's a couple theories about exactly how they were introduced to Atlantic waters.

One being Hurricane Andrew.

Um, that probably released some from a home aquarium, but then also ballast water from ships which can release larvae.

So they've been here for a couple decades now.

-So these are common in the tropical-fish trade, right?

-They are.

Yeah.

Very popular in aquariums.

That's where actually they hold their most value.

-And so what's the threat to our native fishes?

-Well, there's a couple things.

Um, one being that these guys are really prolific breeders.

So they can actually, in warm waters, they can breed every four days.

And so they produce -- The females will produce egg masses of 12,000 to 15,000 eggs.

And that can happen every four days in some areas.

So they're breeding really prolifically, but they also have no natural predators.

And so when that happens, their populations can just grow unchecked.

-And then they're gonna eat a lot of the fish.

-Exactly.

So all those animals that are inhabiting, you know, the rocky reefs, the coral reefs are, one, eating native species, small native species that can be really, you know, commercially and recreationally important or maybe are threatened species.

But then also they're out competing for food and for resources on the reef.

One lionfish on a reef, study suggests that it can reduce native recruitment of the native species by 79%, so they can be really detrimental to the areas that they've been introduced to.

-So, Lisa, these are beautiful fish.

I just almost want to reach out and touch them.

-I know.

Yeah.

Don't do it.

-That'd be a bad idea.

-They are really beautiful.

-So we got a good look at them here, but can we kind of go behind the scenes and... -Yeah, absolutely.

-...get a better look at them?

-I can take you behind the scenes.

We can take a look from the top of the tank, just get a different view.

Um, they'll probably come up and greet us there, so get a nice close look at them.

-Sounds good.

♪♪ Here we go.

God, they look really good from the top here, don't they?

-Right.

It's a totally different view.

A different view of the tank.

The animals come up to see you.

-And this is where we -- I have to be very careful about where I put my hands.

-Exactly.

-I might want to put them in my pockets or something.

God, they are... -Behind your back.

-They are magnificent animals, for sure.

-Yeah.

They're really beautiful.

-You can hear the kids in the background, you know.

-Yeah.

People get really excited over these guys.

They're -- they're really, you know, easily recognizable.

They're really beautiful.

They have those huge, um, feathery pectoral fins, which is maybe, you know, the reason they get the name lionfish.

Because it looks a little bit like a lion's mane.

-So we're gonna try giving these guys a bite to eat.

-Yeah.

So we feed all of our animals on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Um, that's what a lot of aquariums do.

-And it is Wednesday.

-It's a Wednesday.

It's a feeding day.

So we have some food ready.

You want to do some feeding?

-Can I do the honors?

-You can.

Yeah.

-I promise I'll be very careful.

So do I -- I don't see any tongs or anything.

-Yeah.

So this is a hand feeding.

But here's what we're gonna do.

So they're kind of ambush predators.

They don't like to eat the food once it's hit the bottom.

They like to eat it while it's falling through the water.

So we'll take a piece of food.

And we have a couple different types of food.

We've got fish because mainly the adults are eating fish.

We've also got shrimp because everything loves shrimp.

Um, and then we've also got gel food, which kind of takes the place of a pellet food or a flake food.

So it's got fish meal, vitamins, vegetables, minerals.

Um, and we cut that up into sizes that are appropriate for them.

And then we target-feed them each individually piece by piece.

So you would just take a piece of food.

We've got, like, our little gel food.

-Just kind of toss it in.

-Yeah.

And then you drop it in front of them.

Now, you don't want it too close, but you don't want it too far.

There's a little bit of an art to it.

So you would come in.

-Go ahead and show me.

Yeah.

Show me.

Yeah.

At least he sees it.

-Yeah.

So when they approach it, you'll see that they put those pectoral fins up.

-Oh, man.

And they just suck it in, don't they?

-They're lightning-quick feeders.

So this other one's coming over here.

You can go ahead and drop it in.

-I'm gonna try just... -Oh, he sees it.

Perfect.

-Boy, that is super fast.

-Careful there.

-I just noticed this one was remarkably close.

-They really sneak up on you.

-Wow.

-Yeah, you can see those spines breaking the surface.

-Yeah.

-So careful.

-They're pretty close to where our hands are, aren't they?

-So I would try -- Oh.

-Wow.

That was...[laughing] That was kind of exciting, wasn't it?

-It always is with you, Tony.

♪♪ -So obviously these are here.

They're established.

So what -- what can be done about them?

-Um, well, there's a couple different things.

One thing is that they encourage people to fish for them.

-They're supposed to be good to eat.

-They are very good eating.

So fishing for them and eating them.

Um, there are ways that you can learn how to, um, you know, safely and properly catch them and cook them and eat them.

Remember, they are venomous.

They are not poisonous.

So nothing in the meat or in the body is going to cause you any harm unless you were to encounter the spines during the fishing or the cleaning process.

So, you know, people are encouraged to fish for them and eat them.

-It is a dangerous one to prepare, though.

-Yeah.

You have to be very careful.

-Well, Lisa, thanks for showing these and I really enjoyed it.

Really enjoyed feeding them for sure.

I'm keeping an eye on them while I'm talking to you.

-It's the best way to do it.

-But so these are obviously really showy invasive species.

-They are.

-You may have some other ones we can go look at off the dock that are not as showy but just as important.

-Yeah, I have a few ideas of a few other ones that we can talk about that are a little different from our lionfish.

♪♪ -So this is part of your facility, too, right?

-It is.

Yeah.

We're located right here on the Skidaway River.

We have a great nature trail, lots of maritime forest.

But we're also right here on the river.

So these are our docks.

-And so this is where one of those organisms is.

Right?

An invasive species.

-Yep.

Let's see what we got.

-Oh, yeah.

There's all kinds of cool stuff under here.

-It's a pretty long -- I think these are big PVC pipes.

-Wow.

Look at all the stuff on here, I see.

Look at the sea squirts.

-Yeah.

-I love the way they kind of squirt water.

-Tons of sea squirts.

-Water flying everywhere.

-Lots of barnacles.

-Lots of barnacles.

Let's see.

-Sometimes you have to kind of pick through that.

But then if you look kind of on the inside... Yeah.

Oh, here's one here.

-So that's what we're looking for.

That's a porcelain crab, right?

-Yeah.

-Is that the green one, do you think?

-Um, we have to take a little bit of a closer look, because they can be a little bit deceiving.

But, yeah, these are porcelain crabs.

We have a few species of native porcelain crabs.

But then we've also got one species, the green porcelain crab, that's an invasive.

We've definitely found them here before, but they can look really similar to the native species.

So I think it's probably best if we take them back to the lab and we can just take a closer look in our scopes and see if we could get a positive identification on them.

-It's interesting, because this is a species that you would just never know was a problem.

I mean, because they grow under docks and, you know, I've heard estimates of 20,000 animals per square meter.

-They may really have an effect on oyster recruitment and growth.

And oysters are really important.

They're a keystone species for our estuaries here.

And so if we have problems with that oyster growth, um, that may cause other issues down the road.

-Yeah.

And I think it's one of those things that it's hard to know what's really going on because you've got this micro community.

-Yeah.

They're not something that you see all the time.

But if you do any kind of -- There are monitoring projects to look for these guys.

Um, but you would have to, you know, really kind of make a special effort to look for them and find them.

They're not as obvious as other species, like a lionfish would be on a reef.

-Well, I'll tell you what.

I sure appreciate you spending the day with us and showing some of these invasives and also showing us a wonderful aquarium.

You guys are doing good work here, for sure.

-Thank you.

We're really excited to have you here today.

♪♪ -I'm gonna step in this greenhouse because I think there's something really cool that might be in here.

♪♪ Now, I'm not sure if there are any in here, but I've seen a couple of these guys in here before, so I'm hoping we can -- we can find one.

♪♪ So this is what I was after.

And I have to be really, really careful with the tail because the tails are super fragile.

This is a lizard, of course.

It's called a Mediterranean gecko.

And this is one that's native to the Mediterranean, but it has spread over much of the world, parts of Africa, all across the Caribbean.

I mean, it's in a lot of places.

And that's because this is a survivor.

This little gecko can live a lot of places, in a lot of habitats, and it can tolerate a lot of different temperatures.

But our temperature here is perfect for a Mediterranean gecko.

Now, if you look at this little one and by the way, this is an adult.

This is as big as they get.

They've got these wonderful little bumps on them.

And that's really characteristic.

None of our native lizards look anything like this.

So they're kind of different.

Now, this one is not nearly as feisty.

You know, it's a little bit cool.

If this was warmer, this would have been a lot harder to catch for sure.

And as I said before, they've got this wonderful tail.

And if I was too rough on it, that tail would break off.

So I'm trying to be really careful.

So one of the really neat things about geckos is a lot of different types of geckos vocalize.

And these make kind of like little clicks and chirps.

And some of that's for territoriality.

So in other words, they're running off other geckos.

And I guess really big ones will even eat little tiny ones.

So the little guys tend to stay away from the bigger geckos.

Now, these eat a lot of different things, mostly things like roaches, moths and stuff like that.

And they're actually beneficial in that they eat some of the insects.

Of course, they eat any insect, whether it be a beneficial species or a harmful species.

So one of the things that's interesting about these as well is they're nocturnal.

So you typically see them kind of on your front porch running around the porch light catching bugs.

But during the day, they have to have a place to hide.

And that's what we took advantage of.

A lot of times behind boards or cabinets.

I even found one -- I pulled out a big freezer one time and there was one behind it.

So they're gonna hide during the day behind something and then come out at night, especially when the weather's warm and look for things to eat and look for mates and things like that.

Now, obviously we live in a beautiful part of the world and we have a really mild climate and some things that get here, however they get here are gonna become established and there's probably not much we can do about certain species that are already here.

But it is important that we educate people, we do research, and we look at the kind of impact that these introduced species might have on our local ecology.

Thanks for joining us on "Coastal Kingdom."

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Funding for "Coastal Kingdom" is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, which proudly supports this program.

Through the generosity of our members and donors, the ETV Endowment has funded educational and entertaining programming like "Coastal Kingdom" for more than 40 years.