Tonight, Thursday, Jan. 17, is the season opener for The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute 2008 Public Lecture Series.

Tony Amos will speak on "Injured Sea Turtles and other Marine Animals: We try to find out why".

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the lecture will begin at 7 p.m. at the UTMSI Visitors Center on Cotter Avenue near the beach.

During more than 30 years of local beach surveys, Amos has found many stranded sea turtles, sea birds, dolphins and even a few manatees. These stranded and injured animals led to the establishment of the Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) and to public awareness of the distress of these animals, often caused by human activities.

While injured and sick animals are still found on these surveys, the majority of those findings are reported by members of the general public, as well as police, park rangers, lifeguards and beach maintenance workers.

This talk will concentrate on sea turtles and marine mammals. Every one of the nearly 2,500 sea turtles and the more than 1,000 marine mammals found to date in the Port Aransas area has been measured, weighed, photographed and necropsied when possible, and details submitted to national databases.

Last year, an unprecedented 273 sea turtles were dealt with. Live turtles are treated at the ARK, and many are eventually released to the wild.

Almost all of the dolphins found are dead. Although the ARK pioneered the dolphin rehabilitation in Port Aransas, Texas Marine Mammal

Stranding Network volunteers now take the occasional live one to the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi for rehabilitation.

Amos is a research fellow with the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute and director of the ARK.

For more information, call 749- 6805.