We investigated the extent that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill potentially affected oceanic-stage sea turtles from populations across the Atlantic. Within an ocean-circulation model, particles were backtracked from the Gulf of Mexico spill site to determine the probability of young turtles arriving in this area from major nesting beaches. The abundance of turtles in the vicinity of the oi...

Sea turtles face threats globally and are protected by national and international laws. Allometry and scaling models greatly aid sea turtle conservation and research, and help to better understand the biology of sea turtles. Scaling, however, may differ between regions and/or life stages. We analyze differences between (i) two different regional subsets and (ii) three different life stage subse...

During their long-distance migrations, sea turtles of several species feed on jellyfish and other invertebrates that are particularly abundant in ocean regions characterized by high productivity. An ability to distinguish productive oceanic regions from other areas, and to concentrate foraging activities in locations where prey density is highest, might therefore be adaptive. The volatile compo...

Young loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from eastern Florida, USA, undertake a transoceanic migration in which they gradually circle the Sargasso Sea before returning to the North American coast. Loggerheads possess a 'magnetic map' in which regional magnetic fields elicit changes in swimming direction along the migratory pathway. In some geographic areas, however, ocean currents move mo...

Plasma corticosterone concentrations were measured in wild loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in response to acute captivity (capture, serial bleeding, and restraint up to 6 hr). In general, concentrations of corticosterone dramatically increased 1 hr after capture, peaked at 3 hr, and decreased by 6 hr. Initial corticosterone concentrations were significantly lower in animals captured by...

Zug, George R., Addison H. Wynn, and Carol Ruckdeschel. Age Determination of Loggerhead Sea Turtles, Caretta caretta, by Incremental Growth Marks in the Skeleton. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, number 427, 34 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables, 1 appendix, 1986.—Periosteal growth in the skeleton of Caretta caretta is cyclic and produces a record of distinct bony layers (growth marks). These laye...

Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as well as the expression patterns of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activities were measured in livers of loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green (Chelonia mydas), and olive ridley (Lepidocheyls olivacea) sea turtles from the Baja California peninsula of Mexico. The mean concentrations of total PCBs were 18.1, 10...

Rebecca L. Lewison*, Sloan A. Freeman and Larry B. Crowder Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA *Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected] Abstract The depletion of fish stocks from global fisheries has been a long-standing concern. More recently, incidental catch of non-target (termed ...

This study presents the results of examination cephalopod remains extracted from digestive tract 40 loggerhead turtles, Caretta caretta, stranded along Campanian coasts (Southern Italy, eastern Tyrrhenian Sea). We retrieved 23 cephalopods 16 turtles (frequency occurrence = 40%). They belonged to Sepia officinalis (19 specimens) and Octopus vulgaris (2 specimens), both them benthic neritic speci...

submitted to the 25 Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. Night-time spectral sensitivity of adult female leatherback sea turtles Levenson, D.H., Eckert, S.A. Crognale, M.A., Duhamel, P., Kubis, S.A. and Harms, C.A. Flicker electroretinography (ERG) was used to measure the spectral sensitivity of adult female leatherback sea turtles in vivo on a nesting beach on the southern Caribbe...