26A | Island Visitor Publishing, LLC APRIL 2013 • 941.539.0205 • www.siestasand.net
Sarasota Waters
By Paul Roat
|Cownose rays flutter through nearshore waters Call them the bovines of the beach. Vast herds of cownose rays should start to appear in the nearshore Gulf of Mexico waters off Siesta Key. The rays are a couple feet wide and a golden brown color. The rays are sometimes called golden rays. Cownose rays get their moniker due to their cowlike face, with big eyes and large, round “nostrils.” The rays, like all rays, do have a barb at the base of their whip-like tails. Unlike the common stingray, though, cownose rays don’t burrow in the sand but instead spend all of their time swimming. If you stand still as they approach, they will gently pass by unscathed by the barb as long as you don’t try to pick them up. They flap their broad wings to swim, occasionally diving to the bottom to nose the sand for food: oysters, mollusks, and other marine invertebrates, which they crush between tooth plates. Since food is often found close to shore, cownose rays come close to shore, too. The golden rays are incredible travelers. The rays are found as far north at New England, as far south as Brazil, and throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. They travel north in the spring, south in the fall, and are most commonly spotted off Southwest Florida about now. They travel in huge herds. Sometimes it looks like there’s a cloud darkening the Gulf until you look up and notice there’s no cloud. Herds of cownose rays can number to up to 10,000. It’s not all that great an idea to be in the water near cownose rays. Their only
real predator seems to be hammerhead sharks. Rays plus humans plus hammerheads equals a bad equation. Cownose rays are not protected. I haven’t been able to find anyone, even hardcore commercial fishers, who will fess up to eating them, but apparently they are edible and taste not unlike diver scallops. If you want to try a cownose ray for dinner, below is a common recipe that doesn’t sound all that bad. Enjoy?
Chesapeake Ray Fajitas 1 ½ lbs. cownose ray filets, skinned 2 tablespoons garlic, minced 2 teaspoons ground cumin 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon lime juice ¼ cup vegetable oil, plus 2 tablespoons 1 cup sweet red pepper 1 cup onion ¼ cup julienned jalapeno or poblano pepper 1 lime, cut in wedges 1 teaspoon oregano 1 tablespoon garlic minced 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced Salt and pepper Combine 2 tablespoons minced garlic, the cumin, lemon and lime juice and ¼ cup vegetable oil. Skin ray filets and slice into strips. Season ray with salt and pepper. Cover in the marinade and let sit in refrigerator for about 1 hour. Heat skillet to medium high heat and quickly sear ray strips on both sides. Ray should be medium rare; do not overcook. Remove from skillet and reserve in a warm oven. Add additional garlic to pan and sauté for one minute. Add pepper and onions and cook until soft. Add wedges of lime and heat through. Serve ray and vegetables with soft flour tortillas and condiments such as sour cream, guacamole, and salsa. Recipe adapted from original version developed by Chef John Maxwell, Richmond, Va. Photo courtesy of the Georgia Aquarium
|The Rumrunner
Located at Turtle Beach Marina in South Siesta Key | 941.349.3119 www.siestakeycharterfishing.com Captain Joe Bonaro offers more than exciting deep sea fishing opportunities aboard “Sarasota’s fastest charter boat,” the Rumrunner (941/349-3119). The skipper offers special boat and fishing trips for families – and for families with small children – as well as customized day and overnight trips.
1518 Stickney Point Rd., Sarasota, FL 34231
Meet the Natives The Peace River Wildlife Center 3400 Ponce de Leon Parkway, Punta Gorda, FL 33950
Phone: 941-637-3830 Fax: 941-637-3857 www.peaceriverwildlifecenter.com peaceriverwildlife@yahoo.com 10 acres - Admission id free but donations are appreciated
CharlesSobczak livingsanibel@gmail.com
Situated along the northern edge display area. of Ponce de Leon Park, the Peace Volunteers take visitors through River Wildlife Center offers a close- the center’s small zoo of injured up encounter with 120 resident birds, animals, pointing out the different turtles, and mammals. The 10-acre species and answering questions park itself sits along the eastern about the raptors, wading birds, shoreline of Charlotte Harbor, which and other animals kept there. This is one of the healthiest and largest is a great opportunity to see these estuaries left along the west coast of animals very close up. Feedings are Florida. The view across the harbor especially interesting to watch as the stretches across miles of open water, hungry pelicans and larger wading and the mangrove-lined buffer of the birds line up for lunch. Several wild Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park great blue herons, white ibis, and on the other shore makes it seem as an endangered local wood stork are if you are the first to discover this sometimes spotted in the Wildlife treasure. Center’s open-air enclosure. They The park has picnic tables, a were never patients but have come covered picnic area, restrooms, and to appreciate the free lunch of glass a small boat ramp. A boardwalk loop minnows and threadfin herring. trail takes you through a red and black Entrance into the Wildlife Center mangrove forest, where informative is free but donations are welcome to placards point out different animal help cover the considerable expense and plant species. One stretch of the of the veterinary staff, medications, boardwalk doubles as a fishing pier. and fish for feeding the hungry birds. Look for mangrove and fiddler crabs One of the major funding sources is in the trees and blue crabs in the tidal through recycling aluminum cans and creek that borders the park to the other items. The center has teamed up south. with Allied Recycling Inc. and has The Wildlife Center, though four large containers by the back gate fairly small, handled 1,395 orphaned for locals to deposit their aluminum or injured animals in 2009. As the cans or larger recycled items. The gift urbanization of Southwest Florida shop offers an assortment of T-shirts, increases, so too do the patient gifts, and books for sale, all of which admissions at the Wildlife Center. help to fund the mission of helping More subdivisions mean more roads, injured wildlife. and more cars mean more accidents The combination of the Wildlife involving wildlife. The majority of Center and the Ponce de Leon Park, the birds, mammals, and reptiles with its lovely beach and huge admitted to the center are treated, tidal flats to explore, makes this an mended, and released into the wild. unusually attractive eco-destination. A handful can be mended but their The birds and wildlife on display injuries are too severe to allow them constantly change, and there is to be returned to the wild. These always something new to see at the either remain in the care of the Peace River Wildlife Center. Wildlife Center and are added to their displays of local fauna or are sent to other Florida facilities for public exhibit or long-term care. Birds on display at the Wildlife Center include yellow- and blackcrowned night herons, bald eagles, and a truly spectacular red-tailed hawk. There are also gopher tortoises, and the center is adding a mammal – This article is an excerpt from “The Living Gulf Coast A Natural Guide to Southwest Florida,” which is available for purchase at Capt. Curt’s Souvenir Shop, Beach Bazaar and Davidson’s Drugs