Leatherback turtle in Blackwater!

[Plum]

A 1.7m long leatherback turtle was washed up in Mundon Creek this week. It had died only a matter of days before. See https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2741819855861145&id=283507508359071

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[scotty123]

Unusual, don't they normally follow the Gulf Stream & visit the Lleyn Peninsular?

 

[tillergirl]

Blimey. Sad business. Lost and cold I guess.

 

[johnalison]

Amazing animals. I last ate turtle soup some time in the '50s. It was rather good as far as I remember.

 

[Plum]

Blimey. Sad business. Lost and cold I guess.

Was a challengeing recovery but now in a freezer at the Natural History Museum waiting analysis and possible preservation.
See also

https://www.facebook.com/SouthWoodhamCoastguard/photos/a.627477507295401/2740199616023169

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[DavidofMersea]

I saw a turtle about a foot long in the canal at Heybridge a year or two back. Someone claimed to have seen one near the beach at West Mersea a year or two before that

 

[Leighb]

I saw a turtle about a foot long in the canal at Heybridge a year or two back. Someone claimed to have seen one near the beach at West Mersea a year or two before that

It is possible/probable that the “turtle” in the canal at Heybridge was in fact a terrapin? We have also seen one there and they are apparently not uncommon, as a result of releases following the Ninja Turtle craze a few years ago.

 

[DavidofMersea]

It is possible/probable that the “turtle” in the canal at Heybridge was in fact a terrapin? We have also seen one there and they are apparently not uncommon, as a result of releases following the Ninja Turtle craze a few years ago.

I think it was a turtle because it had marks on its paws (?) and I checked it with pictures on the internet. At first I thought it was a tortoise, but then I saw its web feet

 

[Leighb]

I think it was a turtle because it had marks on its paws (?) and I checked it with pictures on the internet. At first I thought it was a tortoise, but then I saw its web feet

Terrapins have webbed feet also, but it could of course have been a turtle, mine was definitely a terrapin though.

 

[Old Bumbulum]

Surely turtles don't have feet, they have flippers?

 

[Leighb]

Just been looking up about Terrapins and Turtles. Seems the Terrapin is just a species of Turtle that lives mainly in fresh or brackish water and also spends a lot of time ashore whereas the Turtle is aquatic and only comes ashore to lay eggs. The word “terrapin" comes from an Algonquian Indian word meaning “a little turtle."
The photo below was taken on the Heybridge canal.

 

[Plum]

Result of the postmortem on the 1.7m long Leatherback turtle in Mundon creak:-
" this leatherback was an adult male in negative nutritional condition- with evidence of live stranding, possible urinary tract infection, and minor debris burden in the intestinal tract"
So, his stomach was empty (they eat jellyfish, not many of those in these parts this time of year) and, other than a few strands of filament, debris/plastic was not a contributor to death.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[DavidofMersea]

Result of the postmortem on the 1.7m long Leatherback turtle in Mundon creak:-
" this leatherback was an adult male in negative nutritional condition- with evidence of live stranding, possible urinary tract infection, and minor debris burden in the intestinal tract"
So, his stomach was empty (they eat jellyfish, not many of those in these parts this time of year) and, other than a few strands of filament, debris/plastic was not a contributor to death.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

We have/had a similar problem here in Ibiza. As you say, the turtles eat jellyfish, and the turtles were eating plastic bags, thinking they were jellyfish, and this killed them. There are almost no turtles in Ibiza now. However, since the introduction of a charge for plastic bags, the number of plastic bags in the sea has almost gone, so hopefully the turtles will return