2007 Life at Campo Cortez
By Caroline Armon
March 13th, 2006
We were both fortunate and saddened to have had a close encounter with a Black Sea Turtle this week. We first observed the turtle resting near the surface of the water not far from our boat. After a few moments, it became apparent that something was wrong with the 2-foot long creature when it failed to swim away. Since I have special training in handling turtles, I lifted it onto the boat with out a struggle. I was hoping to find it tangled in fishing line or some other malady that could be easily remedied. However, because it was lethargic, had poor circulation in its limbs, but had no external injuries, we concluded that its problem was internal. I wonder if it may have eaten some trash such as a plastic wrapper that filled up his stomach--then, with a full feeling in its stomach, it didn’t think to go out in search of food and might be starving to death.
We were sad to see the turtle in such bad condition, but used the opportunity to talk about the different parts of the turtle and about the typical behavior we would have expected to see in a turtle at that age. We also took some of the barnacles off its shell for later observation under the microscope before returning the turtle to the ocean. Upon its return, he swam a little ways and seemed happy to be back in the sea. This gave us hope for its survival and we sent it off with wishes of luck.
Caroline Armon
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