The Story of Barnacle Bill told by Tony Amos,Director of the ARK, the Animal Rehabilitation Keep,
University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI), Port Aransas, Texas

See our photos of Barnacle Bill (1 and 2) and Tony Amos.

On Independence Day, 1997, I got two calls about a big hurt turtle on the Gulf beach in Port Aransas County Park. By the time I got there both times,people had pushed the turtle back out to sea. I caught a glimpse of it in the surf on the second time. The next day, however, I managed to grab hold of it just as it was out through the surf zone. It was covered in barnacles head to tail, and both front limbs were missing. On the left, the bone was sticking out and on the right, the wound looked so straight that I suspected it might have been cut. The wounds were bloody, but not fresh, and had been done perhaps several days before the animal was rescued. We named the 85-lb animal "Barnacle Bill". He was covered in barnacles with cuts down to the bone of his shell. Barnacle Bill was not a very well animal at that time.

But Bill got over his perilous condition and began to thrive at the ARK, thanks to the intensive care of the ARK volunteers. He eventually doubled his initial weight to 165 lb.

Every year around November, Bill has to be moved from the outside tank to an inside one when the water gets too cold to sustain him. He stays inside until the next April. Although still not yet an adult, Bill's weight stopped increasing rapidly and stabilized around 160 lb. Moving him is always an adventure and we take the opportunity to weigh and measure him at the same time. We have to borrow tanks from various UTMSI researchers in various locations for his winter quarters, eventually settling on the upstairs Wet Lab. It takes graduate students pressed into service to help with the hazardous move of a very strong and irate turtle out of the lab, down the elevator, into a truck, down to the ARK, out of the truck, through the gates, over the edge of the concrete tank, and (Phew!) into the water. Later, we get excellent help every month from undergrads at the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Marine Mammal Stranding Network Club. Everyone looks forward with fondness and trepidation at the prospect of Barnacle Bill "operations.".

Several times during the summer, Bill grows algae on his shell where he once had barnacles. This was despite the shade cloth structures we built to cover the outside tanks. He has to be scrubbed clean along with the tank. He doesn't like this. Last year he grew oysters and still wears several half shells, complete with mother of pearl because oysters are not as easy to remove as are acorn barnacles.

We tried to find a home for Bill at an aquarium or zoo, and almost succeeded in placing him at a prestigious East Coast Aquarium. The veterinarian there, however, thought that Bill might be in peril from other residents of the tank they had in mind. I was more worried about the other residents getting a bit of Bill's cantankerous temperament.