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Reptiles
What
is a Reptile?
(for the layman, not the
scientist)
An air-breathing, vertebrate animal without hair or feathers, the body usually covered with a scaly impermeable (dry and scaly) skin. Reptiles are cold-blooded which means they get their heat from the outside environment and are torpid in cold weather (in contrast to the warm-blooded mammals and birds, and like the amphibians from which they evolved).
A key feature of reptiles and their descendants is the amniotic "closed egg" shared by mammals and birds, but not by amphibians. (Most mammals have since lost the shell retaining the infant in the body. Mammals also have the mammary gland for feeding their young milk.)
In some lizards and snakes and in some extinct reptiles (e.g., ichthyosaurs) the eggs are retained in the oviducts of the mother, sometimes with a placental connection, and the young are born alive. There are about 6,000 living species of reptiles.
Sourced
partly from Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Leatherback
Turtle
If you find a Turtle:
"They can't stand the cold weather, which shuts them down and they eventually wash up on our shores," he said.
"When they wash up they are so moribund that to the casual observer they may appear to be dead, but actually they may still be alive, and with expert care can be rescued and nurtured back to health to make a full recovery."
Peter Richardson said under "no circumstances" should turtles be put back into the sea, as it would certainly kill them. (Thermal cold water shock?)
"With
strong winds forecast this week we urge UK beach walkers to be vigilant
and immediately report any turtles they encounter to the RSPCA," he added.
The
Marine
Conservation Society have produced a laminated Turtle Advice Sheet
(endorsed by DEFRA). The guide contains reports numbers and advice.
UK
Turtle Code is now online at
http://www.euroturtle.org/turtlecode/turtlecode.pdf
5 January 2016
A
Kemp's
Ridley Turtle,
Lepidochelys
kempii,
(or is it a Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta caretta?) washed ashore at
Penzance was still
alive and was rescued to Newquay
Blue Reef Aquarium, Cornwall.
30
December 2015
Another
Kemp's
Ridley Turtle,
Lepidochelys
kempii,
was
washed ashore at dead on Chesil
Beach
in Dorset, west of
West
Bexington.
27
December 2015
23
December 2015
A
Loggerhead
Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was rescued at Chapmans
Pool, Dorset.
12
December 2015
A
Kemp's
Ridley Turtle,
Lepidochelys
kempii,
washed
ashore at Aberystwyth
was still alive and put into in rehabilitation.
7
December 2015
A
Green
Turtle, Chelonia
mydas, was found dead stranded
at Porthmadog in
Gwynedd, Wales. The approximately 25 cm long turtle was thought to have
possibly initially stranded alive, given its very fresh condition. The
body of the turtle was recovered from the beach by Gwynedd Maritime Services
and then taken to RSPCA Colwyn Bay for storage prior to pickup and transport
for post-mortem examination by the Cetacean
Strandings Investigation Programme UK (CSIP). This
is only the ninth record of this inhabitant of tropical seas (including
the Atlantic coast of Spain and the Mediterranean Sea) found in the sea
or on the shore around the British Isles.
6
December 2015
A
Loggerhead
Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was washed ashore alive but in a moribund condition on
the south-west Scotland shore in Ayrshire.
It was moved to Scottish Sea
Life Sanctuary (SSLS) in Oban, Argyll and Bute, for recovery and rehabilitation
at but died of hypothermia
on 9 December 2015.
The
problem is the seas around the British Isles are too cold for this tropical
turtle.
c
20 August 2015
1.5
metre (5 ft) long Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, was seen off St.
Bees Head,
Cumbria,
during assessment work for a new nuclear power station planned to be built
in the area.
3
August 2015
A
Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, was spotted by anglers on
a boat fishing for Mackerel
off Dorset. It was reported eating a Barrel
Jellyfish, Rhizostoma octopus.
16
July 2015
A
Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, was spotted at sea near
the Skerryvore Lighthouse,
(12 miles SW of Tiree),
Inner
Hebrides, Scotland.
8
February 2015
A
Kemp's
Ridley Turtle,
Lepidochelys
kempii,
washed
up dead on Greencliff
Beach in north Devon by local resident Ben
Read.
25
January 2015
A
Loggerhead
Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was washed ashore alive but in a moribund condition on
the shores of County
Donegal, Ireland, facing the Atlantic. It was moved to Portaferry
"Exploris" Aquarium, County Down, N Ireland
for recovery and rehabilitation. The
problem is the seas around the British Isles are too cold for this tropical
turtle and these reptiles often die of hypothermia.
28
December 2014
 |
Leatherback
Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea
The carapace is hard like rigid leather, with a slightly 'warty'/bumpy texture. This one had lost it's head and flippers, but retained the ribs and various large joints, and a section of the belly skin.
Subsidiary
Comments by Johnny Woodcock
|
A Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was beached dead for a long time, consisting of just bony plates* and internal bones, on North Uist, Outer Hebrides. (*The Leatherback does not have a shell like other turtles.)
24
December 2014
A virtual skeleton of a Kemp's Ridley Turtle, Lepidochelys kempii, was discovered washed up on a beach at Tarbet in the North West Highlands of Scotland. The turtle was about 28 cm long.
21
December 2014
Two
young Kemp's Ridley Turtle,
Lepidochelys
kempii, were discovered on the shore
near Formby on Merseyside
and Cumbria's Walney
Island, north-west England on coasts facing the Atlantic Ocean. The
critically-endangered turtles usually inhabit the Gulf of Mexico,
but may have been "cold-stunned" by a drop in ocean temperatures. These
young turtles were still alive but in poor condition.
These endangered turtles breed on the coasts of Mexico and are usually found in the Gulf of Mexico and were thought to have blown across the Atlantic Ocean. The turtles are likely to have suffered in the cold seas and would have succumbed if they had not been rescued.
Another one was washed up starving and dying on the Dutch coast at Den Helder Beach.
18
February 2014
After
the storms, a most extraordinary discovery of a rare Kemp's
Ridley Turtle, Lepidochelys
kempii,
washed
up on Saltdean Beach,
east Brighton, East Sussex, It was unbelievable as it is both the
world's rarest sea turtle and thousands of miles out of its natural range,
and unprecedented in the seas off Sussex.
Kemp's
Ridley Turtles are
listed as critically endangered by the World
Conservation Union, with only 35 previous
records of the Kemp's Ridley
species in UK and Irish waters. According to the Marine
Conservation Society the latest estimates suggest that only a few thousand
adult females still nest on only one stretch of beach on the coast of the
Gulf of Mexico.
19
January 2014
A juvenile
Loggerhead
Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was rescued after being washed up alive on Freshwater
Beach
West in Pembrokeshire, SW Wales. The 17 cm (6.7 in) male turtle was
placed in a special quarantine tank at Bristol
Aquarium where it is being treated before, hopefully, being returned
to warmer Caribbean seas from where it had travelled across the Atlantic
Ocean helped by the North
Atlantic Gyre (Gulf
Stream).
17
December 2013
A
sub-adult Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was washed ashore dead at Splash
Point, Worthing,
Sussex in the afternoon. It was a rainy day and I cycled past this point
west of the amusement pier, I noted a flock of twenty Crows
on the shingle but I did not look down on the syenite
rock sea defences or else I might have spotted it. Credit for the discovery
goes to Andrew Cole
who was photographing a landscape shot of the rocks in poor photographic
conditions. This may be the first discovery
of a Loggerhead Turtle
off Sussex as it was unexpected and I have not got records of a previous
discovery. The
turtle
was damaged with a missing flipper and it had died out at sea and had been
washed along until landfall on to this small promontory.
13
September 2013
Leatherback
Turtles,
Dermochelys
coriacea,
have been spotted off the south Cornish coast, notably a reported two-metre
long specimen in Falmouth
Bay.
The
Leatherback
Turtle, Dermochelys
coriacea,
is
the largest of the turtles (Chelonii).
Adults can attain over 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) in length and 680 kg (1,500
lb)
in weight, but they are usually smaller. The largest ever found, however,
was over 3 metres (9.8 ft) from head to tail, including a carapace length
of over 2.2 metres (7.2 ft), and weighed 916 kilograms (2,020 lb).
Leatherback
Turtles breed
on sandy beaches in the tropics but they are great travellers and can be
found in the temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world where they
feed almost exclusively on jellyfishes
and gelatinous
zooplankton (salps,
hydrozoans
etc.) captured with delicate scissor-like
teeth. They can also accidentally consume floating plastic
bags which will probably result in their death. Unlike other turtles
its carapace is not a hard shell (exoskeleton),
but is covered by a layer of rubbery skin strengthened by bony bits which
makes it look leathery. The turtle discovered in Falmouth Bay probably
swam across the Atlantic Ocean from a breeding site in Florida
or elsewhere in the Caribbean.
The
IUCN
classifies the Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, on the Red
List as
critically
endangered.
IUCN
Red Listing
21
August 2013
A
large Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, washed ashore dead for the
tourists at Cullenstown
Strand, Co Wexford, on the south-east coast of Ireland.
4
July 2012
Several
fisherman have reported seeing a dead and decaying Loggerhead
Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, about a metre and a half long to the east of the island
of Herm in the Channel
Islands. I do not believe a live individual of this species has ever
been reported from the Channel Islands area. Occasional
turtles have been seen before though and some of these were definitely
Loggerhead
Turtles.
9
January 2012
A
juvenile 26.4 cm long Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was discovered alive on the rocks at along Widemouth
Bay on the north coast of Cornwall. This
young ocean traveller was likely to have been washed in by the recent gales.
Reports are rare in all months of the year, but especially so in the first
months of the year when the sea is too cold for their survival around the
British Isles.
29
December 2011 & 3 January 2012
Two
young Kemp's Ridley Turtle,
Lepidochelys
kempii, were discovered on the shore
at Tresilian
Bay, near Llantwit
Major, on the south Wales coast. These young turtles
were discovered dead after the gales. These
endangered turtles breed on the coasts of Mexico and are usually found
in the Gulf of Mexico
and were thought to have blown across the Atlantic Ocean. The turtles are
likely to have perished in the cold seas.
| 13
December 2011
A Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, was discovered on a beach in South Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, (ND 463 900) after the recent storms. Unfortunately it was freshly dead, but intact, so its remains were sent to Scottish Agricultural College Veterinary Laboratory at Inverness. The carapace measured 290 mm long by 280 mm wide.
|
Report and Photographs by John McCutcheon |
The Green Turtle inhabits tropical seas including the Atlantic coast of Spain and the Mediterranean Sea. This turtle is only very rarely recorded in British seas.
British Stranding Reports to 2009
c.
17 November 2009
A
Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, was beached dead near Cancale
(Brittany, France) south of Jersey.
10
August 2009
A
15 cm juvenile Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was rescued after stranding on on Loe
Bar, near Porthleven,
in Cornwall. It was discovered by by Rose
Ledbury from Warwick. The turtle was surrounded
by a number of stranded Portuguese Man-o'War, Physalia
physalis, one of the Loggerhead's
staple foods. The turtle is recovering in a special quarantine unit at
the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay.
21
November 2008
A
juvenile Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, washed ashore in the southerly province of Zeeland, near
Westenschouwen, Netherlands.
15-22
February 2008
A
Leatherback
Turtle,
Dermochelys coriacea, seen
swimming in the northern Irish Sea off Portaferry,
Northern Ireland at the first date was eventually washed up dead. It weighed
over 200 kg.
3
February 2008
A
dead juvenile Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, beached alive at Putsborough,
near Woolacombe,
on the north Devon coast. It was rescued from the cold British seas and
transferred to the Blue Reef
Aquarium at Newquay, Cornwall. To the amazement of the discoverers
Diana
and Pauline Bussell, a little blue crab crawled
out from underneath the dinner plate-sized shell of the turtle. This turned
out to the alien hitch-hiker known as the Columbus
Crab,
Planes
minutus, which occasionally gets washed
up on the shore with floating driftwood and other pelagic debris. Another
Loggerhead
Turtle was discovered alive at Widemouth
Bay, Cornwall, a few weeks earlier.
3
January 2008
A
rare Kemp's Ridley
Turtle, Lepidochelys
kempii,
was
washed up at Porth
Ceiriad on the Llyn
peninsula, north-west Wales.
Kemp's
Ridley Turtles are
listed as critically endangered by the World
Conservation Union, with only 35 records
of the Kemp's Ridley
species in UK and Irish waters. According to the Marine
Conservation Society the latest estimates suggest that only a few thousand
adult females still nest on only one stretch of beach on the coast of the
Gulf of Mexico.
1 January
2008
Another
dead juvenile Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was recovered by staff from the Islay
and Jura Seal Sanctuary after it washed up
near Ardbeg, on the island of Islay.
29
December 2007
A
juvenile Loggerhead
Turtle, Caretta
caretta, was discovered washed up dead at Ardnave
on the island of Islay,
the southernmost island of the Inner
Hebrides, western Scotland.
It is extremely unusual for a turtle up this far east up the English Channel on the northern coast.
13
December 2006
The
gales of the preceding week also brought in the remains of a Leatherback
Turtle,
Dermochelys coriacea,
on to at Widemouth
Bay near Bude in north
Cornwall.
11
December 2005
A
decomposed Loggerhead
Turtle, Caretta caretta, was discovered
on the north Scottish coast by Christine Cormack.
1
August 2005
A
Leatherback
Turtle,
Dermochelys coriacea,
was found dead off the coast of Cornwall. It was spotted by a helicopter
crew which was carrying out a survey for RNAS Culdrose. The turtle, which
is the largest reptile in the world, had become entangled in lobster pot
buoy ropes off Botallack,
near Lands End. It was towed to shore at Cape
Cornwall by the Sennen
Inshore Lifeboat.
27-29
June 2005
A
group of seven Leatherback Turtles,
Dermochelys
coriacea, were spotted around the Isles
of Scilly, south-west of Cornwall.
2
February 2005
A
Loggerhead
Turtle, Caretta
caretta, was discovered on Carbis
Bay, Cornwall, and because it seemed to be impeded by a parasitic growth,
it was taken to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay.
| January
2005
This Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, measuring over two metres in length was washed up in Luce Bay near Port William, SW Scotland. It was alive when stranded, but it died shortly afterwards. |
 |
24
February 2004
A
Leatherback
Turtle,
Dermochelys coriacea,
was spotted five miles south of Mevagissey
off the south coast of Cornwall. This is an unusually early sighting which
normally start appearing in UK waters in early summer.
Newquay
resident Jo Leach
reported the turtle after spotting it while out on her uncle’s crab potting
boat.
“My
uncle was using his binoculars to look out for the Fin
Whales that had been reported over the
weekend, when he saw something that he thought looked like a rock breaking
the surface”, said Jo Leach, “We approached the object and cut the engines,
and when we were about five metres away we could see it was a Leatherback
Turtle. It gazed at us for a few minutes and
then slowly swam off, as if it had had enough of looking at us!”
28
January 2003
Vic
Sell discovered a small turtle on Widemouth
beach, Cornwall, but it disappeared before it could be identified.
13
January 2003
A
live Green Turtle, Chelonia
mydas, was stranded on the west coast
of Guernsey (Channel Islands) in the afternoon. Elliot
Green, was playing
football with his young son, discovered the
turtle on Saline Beach and reported it to the Guernsey Society for the
Protection of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA).
Geoff George and Yvonne Chauvel (in the photograph) collected
the turtle, and after it had been treated by veterinarian John
Knight, transferred it to the Guernsey
Aquarium at St. Peter Port until arrangements can be made to release
it into the sea at a suitable location (preferably warm water). This species
of turtle inhabits tropical seas including the Atlantic coast of Spain
and the Mediterranean Sea. It is only very rarely recorded in British seas.
The
white spots are a species of turtle barnacle, which may have not been recorded
before on the British list of marine (barnacle)
species (MCS Directory).
Green Turtle found on Guernsey (Photograph © by Richard Lord, Guernsey)
The curved carapace length of the turtle is 75 cm and the curved carapace width is 68 cm. This turtle inhabits tropical seas including the Atlantic coast of Spain and the Mediterranean Sea. This turtle is only rarely recorded in British seas. There is only one record known to me from near the Thames estuary.
BMLSS
Turtles
Previous
Reports:
The
first record is for Dec 1875,
washed up dead in Sussex.
2nd,
no month, 1887 Chesil beach Dorset.
3rd,
Jan, 1980 Northern Isles of Scotland.
4th,
Jul, 1999 off Firth of Forth Scotland.
5th,
Dec, 2001 stranded dead at Blackpool.
6th,
Feb, 2002 Achmelvich
Scotland.
We
have only just carried out the post-mortem examination on the Green Turtle
from Blackpool, it had fairly large fragments of plastic in its stomach
and had obviously been eating anything it could in desperation.
The
largest item in its stomach was a large fragment of blue balloon approx.
10cm x 5cm. The cause of death was starvation.
14
August 2002
Henry
Altenberg saw a large Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, over 2 metres in length, six miles off Coverack,
Cornwall. It was attacking a large jellyfish,
Rhizostoma
octopus, which it pushed to the surface and threw in
the air with a quick flick whilst grabbing a mouthful of 'jelly flesh'.
4
July 2002
Three
Leatherback
Turtles, Dermochelys coriacea,
were found on three separate Cornish beaches alive at Millook
Haven, 6 km south of Bude
on the north coast, and Perran Sands (SW 7655),
with
a dead specimen washed up at on the strandline of Watergate Bay, Cornwall.
9
May 2002
With
the swarms of jellyfish it is does not come
as a surprise that a predatory Leatherback
Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was
seen by Ian and Joy Olford
50 metres from the shore off Polruan,
Cornwall (SX 125511).
The jellyfish Rhizostoma octopus
was seen nearby and jellyfish are the principal diet of these turtles.
6 January
2002
Donny
Nicolson reported a dead Leatherback
Turtle,
Dermochelys coriacea, washed
ashore on the Dale beach at Walls
(west Mainland) in the Shetland Isles. It is decomposed and has probably
been there some time although the carcass is still intact. It measured
6ft 4" from nose to tail. It was 7ft across the flippers. There were
7 ribs along its back, and the longest one measured 51" and was 39" across
all 7. Approximately 4-5cwt. This is the twelfth recorded find from the
Shetlands.
Message:
1
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 13:37:39 -0000
From: "Cetacean Research & Rescue
Unit" <crru@crru.org.uk>
Report
by the Cetacean
Research & Rescue Unit via UK
Cetnet
Subject:
Leatherback turtle in the Firth of Forth
BDMLR Medics in Scotland spent much of the weekend on the trail of a Leatherback Turtle Dermochelys coriacia in the Firth of Forth. The turtle, measuring some 4-5 feet across, became the focus of a large scale operation which lasted throughout the weekend and continues today into the week ahead.
The reptile was first spotted on Friday afternoon some 30 miles up the Forth river towards the Stirlingshire town of Alloa, very close to the south Alloa jetty. It was soon identified as a Leatherback, the World's largest sea turtle and sole living representative of the family Dermochelyidae. A local SSPCA officer, Brian Calling, was first on the scene, but was unable to reach the turtle who had subsequently become corralled into the deeper waters of the forth by two fishing boats who had taken a passing interest in the unusual visitor.
A search of the area was co-ordinated to try and re-locate the turtle using 3 boats working together to cover a 30 mile stretch of the Firth from Stirling to the Forth Road bridge but to no avail. Whilst this suggested to some that the animal may have made its way back out to the open sea, the turtle could very easily have been missed. Resting turtles, for example, can remain submerged at the bottom of the water column for substantial periods of time, and certainly long enough for a searching boat to pass well overhead. In addition, the entire estuarine area of the firth is HUGE, and even the most systematic search of the area might prove elusive.
Leatherback turtles can attain weights of up to 1.5 tonnes. They are present mostly in August and September off the south and west coasts of Britain and Ireland and off the Shetlands, but this is not the first time the species has been recorded in the Firth of Forth. These turtles undertake extensive migrations to British waters as they follow swarms of jellyfish, the Leatherback's main prey item. We are currently concerned about the food availability for this huge reptile at this time of year and in this location. If we are unable to catch the turtle, it may simply use up its food reserves if it remain trapped in the firth, confused by its unfamiliar new environment.
BDMLR
Scotland teams are equipped and standing by should the turtle reappear.
It
was 14 November 2001 before
it was discovered and photographed after an extensive and systematic search
in small boats.
Dr
Kevin Robinson
BDMLR
Scotland Co-ordinator
kev.robinson@crru.org.uk
Cetacean
Research (& Rescue) Unit (CRRU)
P.O.
Box 11307 Banff AB45 3WB SCOTLAND
TEL/FAX
(+44) 1261 851696
EMERG
(+44) 7866 925401
EMAIL
mailbox@crru.org.uk, WEB http://www.crru.org.uk/
Affiliated
with the Greystoke Foundation
Registered
Scottish Charity SC 028400
Representatives
of the UK Marine Animal Rescue Coalition (MARC)
Publication
(August 2001):
JNCC Report 310
Bycatch of marine turtles
in UK and Irish waters
Publisher: Joint
Nature Conservation Committee
ISSN 0963-8091
Message:
7
Cornish
Mailing List
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 19:56:15 +0000
From: Vincent Smith <pendeen2002@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject:
TURTLE AWARENESS GROWS. CORNWALL WT PRESS RELEASE.
TURTLE AWARENESS GROWS.
13 March 2001
The discovery at Holywell Bay today of a young Loggerhead Turtle, Caretta caretta, now being looked after by marine experts at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, has highlighted increasing awareness of this area's importance for turtles
Turtles feature prominently in the latest report from Seaquest South-West, the marine recording project being run by the Cornwall and Devon Wildlife Trusts.
Contributors to its spring newsletter include Philippa Brakes of Newquay Zoo, who describes an influx of rare Kemp's Ridley Turtles - two in the Newquay area and one in Wales - late last year.
This species was last seen in Cornwall in 1949 and only 26 have been sighted in Britain since records began in 1748. One of the Cornish turtles was the largest Kemp's Ridley ever recorded in the UK, with a shell measuring over 60 cm in length. Sadly, this animal was already dead and the other two died despite the efforts of the Blue Reef Aquarium to nurse them back to health.
Strict protection of its beach nesting sites in Mexico has resulted in rapid population growth for this highly endangered creature, which may be one of the reason why we are seeing these turtles more often, but the situation may be more complex as Philippa describes:
"It
is possible that the change in the environment caused by global warming
may have initiated changes to the oceanic currents on which these animals
travel and feed, or it may be that the concerted conservation effort has
created sufficient population pressure that individuals or indeed groups
are cast out in search of new areas to feed and breed. It has been suggested
that it may just be that every population has a number of aberrant individuals
that make this journey, as an evolutionary mechanism for colonising new
areas, and that as the population increases this percentage represents
more individuals. It may even be that these animals are often near our
shores but only get washed up or spotted when we have large storms with
onshore winds. It is highly likely that the answer is found in a combination
of some of these factors."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The South-West's Leatherback Turtle population
By comparison, the huge Leatherback Turtle is almost a common sight in Cornish waters, with Colin Speedie of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust describing the behaviour of three such creatures on just one trip from the Scillies to Cornwall last summer.
According to the Trust's Education and Publicity Manager Mark Nicholson, this is further evidence that the leatherback is a significant part of the South-West's wildlife:
"These incredible creatures, often growing to over two metres in length, breed on tropical beaches but deliberately migrate thousands of miles to feed on the abundance of jellyfish supported by our cold waters. One of our first steps towards conserving them has been to make people aware that they are part of this area's wildlife. What's more, we think they must be present in quite large numbers if we can see them so regularly, bearing in mind the vastness of the sea, the fact that they spend most of their time submerged or partially submerged and the difficulty in spotting what little pokes above the surface when the sea is not totally calm."
The Cornwall and Devon Trusts are keen to increase their knowledge of Leatherbacks, both through sightings reported to Seaquest and through the development of radio-tracking and other research projects in co-operation with the Marine Conservation Society and others.
Local and global threats
While the South-West's Leatherbacks are thought to derive mainly from breeding sites in Central and South America, others hatch out in Africa and South-East Asia. Cornish student Denise Hooper gained an insight into the problems faced by turtles in their nesting areas when she visited Malaysia last summer to carry out a research project. There she discovered that harassment of nesting turtles by exploitative tourist businesses had driven the creatures away from some areas, leading to the collapse of the local economy, and she was struck by the parallels with the South-West:
"Tourism was the primary industry in Rantau Abang, with the turtles as the main resource. This irresponsible exploitation has almost eliminated that resource and the economy is suffering greatly. There is currently a problem with harassment of marine life in the South-West and people need to learn a lesson from examples like Rantau Abang to prevent it happening here. Marine life is a very important tourist attraction and we need to ensure that it is not scared away."
While many of the threats to Leatherbacks, such as damaging and disturbing nesting beaches or taking eggs and adult turtles for food, relate to the tropics, the Trusts point out that there is much to be done to make our own waters safer for turtle populations, as Mark Nicholson explains:
"We have to continue to monitor fishing methods, for example, as some are much more dangerous to turtles than others. The problem of oil pollution also affects turtles and all other marine life both at home and abroad. Another global problem which particularly affects Leatherbacks is that of marine debris. The creatures often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and end up dying a slow and painful death due to blockage of their guts."
For further information on turtles and Seaquest, call the Cornwall Wildlife Trust on (01872) 273939.
Cornwall
Wildlife Trust: http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/cornwall
21
November 2000
A
live Loggerhead
Turtle, Caretta caretta, was taken
to New Quay Sea-Life Centre after being washed up on Fistral Beach, Cornwall
in a very poor condition. It died the following day.
Report
by Rod Penrose via the Vince
Smith's One-List/Cornish Wildlife.
Strandings
Co-ordinator (Wales)
Marine
Environmental Monitoring.
Collaborative
UK & Celtic Marine Mammal Project.
British
Marine Turtle Stranding Network.
Tel:
01239 682405
International:
+44 1239 682405
email:
rodpenrose@cix.co.uk
World
Wide Web: http://www.strandings.com
11
November 2000
The
tenth live Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, in Shetland waters was found tangled in creel ropes in Basta
Voe (Yell) during
the afternoon. Despite attempts to free it unharmed the animal was so badly
caught it had to be brought ashore to be released.
Once
ashore and untangled it became torpid and appeared unable to return to
the sea. It was therefore taken to the Wildlife Sanctuary at Hillswick
for rehabilitation where, even after an examination by a vet and treatment
for abrasions from the creel ropes, it eventually died.
Pictures and the full story are at http://www.wildlife.shetland.co.uk/news/cetnews.html
Hugh
Harrop
Shetland
Wildlife, Longhill, Maywick, Shetland ZE2 9JF, UK.
Tel.
+44 (0)1950 422483 Fax +44 (0)1950 422430
EMail:
hugh@shetlandwildlife.co.uk
5 October
2000
Another
Leatherback
Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was
spotted by
John Garden, two
miles north of Whitehills,
Banff,
chomping on a Lion's Mane Jellyfish,
but dived after being spotted by the crew of the crabber 'Roseanne'.
It was approx. 150 cm (5 ft) long and (3 ft) wide.
17
September 2000
A
Leatherback
Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was
seen by James Wiseman three
miles north of Hopeman
in the Moray Firth.
It was about 2.5 metres long. Although
occasionally seen off the Cornish coast in the summer and autumn, they
are much rarer off north-eastern Scotland.
Subject:
Leatherback
Turtles.
Hi,
Six+ Leatherback Turtles were seen from the Scillonian
(Ferry from Penzance, cornwall to the Isles of Scilly) pelagic. Turtles
are reported from off Cornwall during the summer and autumn.
Records
from 1989 to 1999 ore recorded by Ray Dennis.
Cornish
Marine Wildlife Reports 1999 (by Ray Dennis)
Cheers,
Vince
Smith <pendeen2002@yahoo.co.uk>
More
information on turtles from Cornwall can be found on Vince
Smith's One-List/Cornish Wildlife.
There is a search facility
to find all the records.
5 July
2000
From:
"Stella Turk" <stella@reskadinnick.fsnet.co.uk>
Subject:
A third Leatherback Turtle
A large (2 metres long) Leatherback turtle has just been reported by Brixham Coastguards. It was sighted a quarter mile off Start Point, Devon this afternoon.
This is the third one in ten days - the first was off the Runnelstone (rescued by fishermen as reported to the group by Ray Dennis), the second was about 12 miles due south of Plymouth (brought to Doug Herdson of the National Marine Aquarium - unfortunately drowned). Number three seemed to have no problems, and may it remain trouble-free.
Stella
29
June 2000
A
large Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys
coriacea, was discovered dead, entangled in the nets of a fishing boat
off Plymouth in the English Channel. The turtle was nearly 2 metres in
the length and the turtle was estimated to weigh about 150 kg (300-400
lb).
Leathery Turtle – 29th June 2000-07-03
Late afternoon of Thursday 29th June, the F.V. Our Louise (Skipper Rod Townsend) found that their bottom set net had been dragged almost half a mile from its original position. The position was approximately 12 miles due south of Plymouth. On hauling the net a large turtle was found just below the surface entangled in the dan line going down to the net which was in 45 metres of water. When brought aboard it was found to be dead. It was brought in to Plymouth Fish market where it was photographed and examined by National Marine Aquarium staff (and later by the local press). It was subsequently taken by a fisherman and a local artist who will attempt to cast a model from it.
The animal generally appeared to have been in excellent condition with no scarring or epizooites. The only injuries were a small wound to the top of the head and some slight grazing of the carapace presumably from manhandling it aboard the vessel.
It was a uniform greenish black except for a pale pinkish area with black spots below the chin, on the neck and upper chest.
Measurements:
Total length
176 cm
Carapace length
137.5 cm
Head (to rear of skull)
29 cm
Front flipper (left,
angle to tip) 84 cm
Rear flipper
40.5 cm
Tail
14 cm
I should welcome any opinions as to the age and sex of this specimen from those with experience of this species.
Doug Herdson, 3.7.2000
Report by Doug Herdson (National Marine Aquarium at Plymouth)
November
1999
A
report has been received of a Kemp's
Ridley Turtle, Lepidochelys kempii, stranded alive in
Wales, UK. It is currently being held in St. David's Oceanarium in Wales
while arrangements are made for its return to Mexico. This turtle has only
one wild breeding site in the Gulf of Mexico.
6 December
1999
A
young 30 cm long (one foot) baby Loggerhead
Turtle, Caretta caretta, weighing 3 kg (6.6 lb), was
discovered on a beach on Denmark's west coast by a nature warden and sent
to Copenhagen Aquarium.
Loggerhead
turtles, one of several endangered species of turtle, measure up to 110
cms (3.5 ft) and can weigh some 70 kg (154 lb) when fully grown.
from
Reuters
Planet Ark
10
October 1999
Nigel
Hunter discovered a Leatherback
Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, decomposing on Newborough
beach on the Isle of Anglesey. The turtle was nearly 2 metres long and
nearly a metre (90 cm) wide.
There is an island at Newborough
which gets cut off from the mainland at high tide. It was on this
section of beach. I was on holiday for the weekend on Anglesey Wales.
I live in Littleborough,
Lancashire.
30
August 1999
A Leatherback
Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, weighing 500 kg* was discovered
alive but in a poor condition one mile off Roker,
Sunderland, in the north-east of England. It was captured but died shortly
afterwards. The turtle measured 2.1 metres (7 ft) long and 1.5 metres (5
ft) wide. Turtles feed on jellyfishes and the abundance
of jellyfishes is thought to be the reason for its occurrence. (* the original
report estimated the weight at 750 kg)
Jellyfish
(NE England) Link
8
August 1999
ALeatherback
Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was
seen swimming in the sea off the southern end of Bressay
(between the Ord and the Bard) in the Shetland Islands by John
Tulloch this evening. It is the only the ninth
live individual to be seen in Shetland waters and was estimated to be around
150 cm (5 feet) in length.
On
2
September 1999, a large turtle, estimated
to be about 1 metre in length and was reported in Bluemull Sound,
between Yell and Unst, in the Shetland Isles, by the crew of the Fetlar
ferry.
Shetland
Wildlife News Web Site (more information and a photograph)
June
1999
Ryan
Williams and Brett Jose (Cadgwith, Cornwall) spotted a 120 cm long Leatherback
Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, poke his head out of the
water whilst they were fishing off Church Cove on the Lizard Peninsula
in Cornwall. A Newlyn fishermen also spotted one near the Isles of Scilly
.
My friends Tony Clancy and Steve Connor found a dead Leatherback Turtle washed up on Aveley Bay, Rainham, East London on the weekend of 28/29 November 1998, after which it was taken away for a postmortem.
The report indicates that
the turtle was first seen in bad health about 2 miles east of the Queen
Elizabeth Bridge/Dartford River Crossing on 26 October (the report later
gives this date incorrectly as 26 November), and what was assumed to be
the same turtle was found dead 27 days later at Tilbury on 22 November.
The turtle had a large gash
thought to have been caused by a propeller, and the postmortem found a
11mm x 75mm fragment of plastic at the entrance to its stomach.
The paper includes an interesting discussion of this rare event, and covers ecology, other east coast records, possibilities for rehabilitation of stricken turtles, recommendations for dealing with stricken turtles etc.
More Information on this Turtle
October
1995
A male Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, is landed by an Isle of Skye fisherman in Aros Bay, Uig.
It is over 2 metres long.
21
November 1950
"While
gathering seaweed at La Mare slip yesterday, Mr J.P.
Le Tourneur was surprised to find a queer
looking creature moving about his load of vraic
(seaweed).
This
proved to be a turtle, and very much alive too! He took the reptile home
and contacted Mr. Baal, the well known naturalist, who immediately recognized
it as a Hawksbill
Turtle, Chelona
imbricata. Local appearances of turtles
are very rare and are probably due to freak weather conditions."
Vraic collecting has gone on for centuries in Jersey, and vraic was once used as a fuel. Time past on the outlying reefs it would be gathered and burnt the ashes being sold as fertiliser. At present the government pays for the collection of vraic washed up, for use as a fertiliser on local fields.
My
Marine Heritage Page
http://msnHomepages.talkcity.com/ProjectPl/jerseyseals/marine.htm
On the subject of turtles,
there is a good paper on marine turtle strandings around the UK, over the
period 1992-1996 if anyone is interested.
It was published in the
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK in 1998.
Godley, B.J. et al. (1998) Patterns
of marine turtle mortality in British waters (1992-1996) with reference
of tissue contaminant levels.
EMail:B.Godley@udcf.gla.ac.uk
http://www.wildlife.shetland.co.uk
Cheers
Edward
From: "Nick Tregenza" <nick@chelonia.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Turtles out
in the cold
Leatherback
Turtles, at least, have deep body temperatures well above ambient
and range up to the Arctic circle. They are seen swimming, as happy as
usual, in Cornish waters even in winter! There's more on
http://www.chelonia.demon.co.uk/leatherback.html
about leatherbacks in Cornwall.
Nick Tregenza
From: "Dave Thomas" <dave-mirador@exl.co.uk>
Subject: Turtles
Re Turtle articles.
No one yet as mentioned
Roger Penhallurick's book 'Turtles off Cornwall, The Isles of Scilly and
Devonshire" pub 1990.
The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists standardised the common names of the reptiles found in the United States, assigning "turtle" to all of those with a shell. The name "tortoise" is employed secondarily for the slow-moving terrestrial species in the family Testudinidae, including the Common European Tortoise, Testudo graeca, and the giant Galápagos species.
Terrapin: any aquatic
turtle of the family Emydidae (but other chelonians may be called terrapins).
European Terrapins will
not breed in Britain (although species may be released).
European Pond Terrapin,
Emys
orbicularis
Stripe-necked Terrapin,
Mauremys caspica.
Turtle sightings Official
Report numbers.
England (Turtles):
0171 938 9292
Scotland (Turtles):
0131 4472 444
British Marine Life Study
Society “Shorewatch” 01273 465433
Further Reading:
Turtles:
Turtles and Tortoises
of the World, by David Alderton (Blandford 1988) ISBN 0 7137 1970 2
Encylopaedia Britannica:
Integumentary
Systems in Reptiles.
The Reign of the Reptiles,
by Michael J Benton (Kingfisher 1990) ISBN 0 862272 640 9
Send an email message to LISTSERV@lists.ufl.edu
with the one-line message
SUBSCRIBE CTURTLE (your first name) (your last name)
2. To post information to all subscribers on the list,
send an email message to CTURTLE@lists.ufl.edu
Information
from Vince Smith's One-List/Cornish Wildlife
Send a message to the list
at: CornishWildlife@onelist.com
Laist, D.W. 1997. Impacts
of marine debris: entanglement of marine life in marine debris including
a comprehensive list of species with entanglement and ingestion records.
In "Marine Debris: Sources, Impacts and Solutions".
(J.M. Coe and D.B. Rogers,
eds) Springer-Verlag, NY.
>From: Philip Koloi <p.koloi@GBRMPA.GOV.AU>
Balazs, G. H. 1990. Ecological aspects of marine turtles impacted by ocean debris: A 1989 perspective. [Abstract] In R. S. Shomura and M. L. Godfrey (eds.), Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Marine Debris, April 2-7, 1989, Honolulu, Hawaii, p. 718. U.S. Dep. Commer. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SWFSC
That was my first exposure to the problem and I highly recommend it. If you can't lay your hands on it, try searching for 'marine debris' in the Sea Turtle Online Bibliography starting at:
<http://accstr.ufl.edu/biblio.html>
\_ / /// / /// / // / / Peter Bennett, Mississauga, Ontario
<:-(_ )~ VISIT TURTLE TRAX http://www.turtles.org
\ \ \\ \ \ \\ \ \ \\\ \ EMail:
honu@turtles.org
Drs. B.J. Godley & A.C. Broderick
Marine
Turtle Research Group
University of Wales, Swansea
Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK
Tel: 00
44 1792 205678 ext 4411
URL: <http://www.seaturtle.org/mtrg/>
Fax: 00
44 1786 44 55 99
I'm compiling a table of information on satellite transmitter attachment methods for hard-shelled sea turtles. If you are willing to share your information please email me (pplotkin@dccmc.org) the following information for each transmitter you have used. Everyone will be acknowledged for their contribution. Thanks for your help.
1. Species the transmitter
was attached to
2. Approximate age class/size
of your turtle (juvenile, sub-adult, adult)
3. Attachment method (e.g.
epoxy, resin, etc.)
4. Transmitter longevity/duration
5. Information regarding
the final fate of the transmitter (e.g. unknown, retrieved, etc.)
Pamela Plotkin, Ph.D.
Senior Conservation Scientist
Center for Marine Conservation
1725 DeSales Street, NW
#600
Washington, D.C. 20036
phone: 202-429-5609 ext.
673
FAX: 202-872-0619
EMail:
pplotkin@dccmc.org
http://www.cmc-ocean.org
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