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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 Encylopaedia Britannica.
Leatherback
Turtle
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/
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.
23
October 2008
A
juvenile Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, washed ashore in the province of North Holland along the
North Sea shoreline at Callantsoog, Netherlands.
12
March 2008
After
the stormy weather, a dead
Loggerhead Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, was discovered by Roger Adams
walking on Wanson Beach, near Widemouth
Bay, North Cornwall.
15-22
February 2008
A
Loggerhead
Turtle,
Caretta
caretta, 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.
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.
24
February 2004
A
Leatherback
Turtle,
Dermochelys coriacea, was
spotted five miles south of Mevagissy 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 disapeared 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 suprise 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 coordinated 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 Commmittee
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. CORWALL 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 of the 11th November.
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
commonly 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
infomation 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 immediatley 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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