Ernie, the Bubble Eating Sea Turtle

For four years, visitors to SEA LIFE Manchester in the United Kingdom have enjoyed a variety of aquatic experiences, including the awesome opportunity to feed its resident, Ernie, the giant green sea turtle.

Ernie, who was rescued from a turtle farm in The Caymans, is a favorite among visitors and Aquarists-to-be. The celebrity turtle happily takes advantage of the many daily handouts from his adoring fans as they learn about his diet and habitat. In fact, SEA LIFE handlers had to start carefully guarding Ernie’s consumption of tasty treats after he started to show a bit of flab in his flippers. 

Fortunately, Ernie recently found a new source of entertainment and opportunity to shed those extra pounds– playing with the bubble stream that escapes from the back of the SeaTREK® helmets!

Ernie slowly developed a passion for bubbles ever since SEA LIFE started running SeaTREK experiences. He has even contorted into funny positions over the back of the helmets, literally hanging vertically, head first into the bubble streams to get to the bubbles.

Alex Wright, Aquarist & Lead Diver shares, “since Ernie weighs over 80 kilograms (176 lbs.), he was getting a little in the way, but we didn’t want him to miss out on the bubbles he so clearly enjoys! I’ve used a scuba kit, with the SeaTREK umbilical attached and kept at the surface. Connected to the umbilical is a SeaTREK connector and hose, which runs into a drilled container that varies the amount of bubbles. By knocking at it, Ernie can make the bubbles come out of different holes.”

Ernie spends quite a bit of time engaged with his new “toy”, and has even started blowing bubbles out of his nose, to have even more to chase.

For more information on SEA LIFE and Ernie’s adventures, please visit www2.visitsealife.com/manchester/. And, don’t forget to book a SeaTREK experience so that you can meet Ernie the bubble eating sea turtle.