Join FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory for our last spring lecture from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 15. Jack Rudloe, founder and owner of Panacea's Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory, will talk about his experience and insight with the enigmatic electric ray. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided.

Lecture Title: “Electric Rays - Biological Batteries with Rocks in their Heads”

Date:  May 15, 2025 at 7:00 - 8:00 pm

Bio and Lecture Description: Born in New York, Jack Rudloe moved to Florida as a boy and began his self-education as a marine biologist. In 1964, he founded the Gulf Coast Specimen Company of Panacea, Florida, which collects marine specimens for laboratories around the world. A few years later, he began writing personal narratives that blend science and philosophy as they explore contemporary problems of marine ecology. Inspired by an early correspondence with John Steinbeck, Rudloe’s works combine concrete descriptions of the coastal environment’s ecological diversity with philosophical speculations on life and death, coastal development, and the struggle between the human desire for knowledge and nature’s need to exist untouched. Rudloe has contributed articles to such naturalist periodicals as Audubon, National Geographic, and Natural History, many of them co-authored with his wife, Ann Rudloe. Jack’s talk will be about his experiences and insights into electric rays and their biology.

Where: The FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory

3618 Coastal Hwy 98

St. Teresa, FL 32358

Zoom: In-person attendance is encouraged, but the lecture will also be live-streamed: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/94670234768

Questions? Contact Jared Fuqua at jfuqua@fsu.edu.