touch tank area with various local marine species, which frequently include swell sharks, sea nettles, cabezon, red octopus, and purple urchins. The Southwest Fisheries Science Center is a federally-owned research institution run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists focus on the study, management, and stock assessment of fisheries in California, with a focus on rockfishes and salmonids. The Santa Cruz lab is one of several campuses under the SWFSC umbrella. The Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center is managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response. The center is dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of oiled marine wildlife, especially sea otters, and research on marine wildlife health. The blue whale skeleton The Blue whale skeleton, "Ms. Blue" is the largest blue whale skeleton displayed in the world and is one of four blue whale skeletons displayed in North America. The whale is tall and long, and was not fully grown when she washed ashore at Fiddlers Cove near Pescadero on September 6, 1979. Shortly after discovery, biologists and students from UC Santa Cruz began "flensing" (removing flesh and blubber) from the whale, with the whole process taking about a month to complete. Transported by helicopter and truck to the marine lab, the skeleton lay in a grassy field just downwind of lab buildings for over a year before being buried. Burying allowed nature’s decomposers to clean away the remaining tissue and oil that saturated the bones. In the summer of 1985, the bones were unearthed and reconstruction began. Frank Perry, a local geologist and museum specialist, was hired to clean the bones and mount them for display. Working with lab staff and specialists from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the California Academy of Science, they constructed a steel framework to support the bones and recreate the proper arch of the spine, a job completed in 1986. In 1999, the skeleton underwent a relocation and refurbishment. During the original recovery process in 1979, some bones were lost to the tides, crushed under the 100-ton weight of the carcass, or stolen from the beach by souvenir hunters. Dr. Dave Casper, UC Santa Cruz veterinarian, re-created the 60 lost bones by creating molds from bones loaned by other institutions, or by using similar structures in the existing skeleton. The flipper bones, originally pinned close to the body, are now