Rare sea turtle found alive and well in Mexico, seven years after it was injured in SC
Injured by a boat strike near Edisto Beach seven years ago, a rare Kemp’s ridley sea turtle was rescued and nursed back to health by experts at the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston.
Now, the turtle — nicknamed Coral — has shown up in Mexico, in good shape and laying eggs in a nest along the Gulf Coast some 1,700 miles away.
A team that monitors Kemp’s ridley sea turtles discovered Coral in mid-May at Miramar Beach, not far from Tampico, Mexico.
The discovery delighted scientists who said efforts to save injured turtles can make a difference in helping to replenish populations of the endangered reptiles.
When discovered, Coral had produced 84 eggs that are currently incubating and expected to hatch, according to a statement from Thane Wibbels, a University of Alabama researcher.
Finding the once-injured turtle on a Mexican beach “provides an example of how the rehabilitation efforts .... throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. can directly contribute to the recovery of the natural population of Kemp’s,’’ Wibbels said.
“It is a great example that directly links efforts by the (S.C. Department of Natural Resources) and the S.C. Aquarium to the reproductive output on the natural nesting grounds for the Kemp’s ridley.’’
Kemp’s ridley turtles are federally protected endangered species that are found more often in the Gulf of Mexico than along the South Atlantic coast. They are considered the most endangered of all sea turtle species.
They sometimes travel to South Atlantic waters to feed when they are young. Very rarely, a few will remain in South Carolina waters and build nests when they mature.
In this case, Coral traveled to Mexico after recovering from her injury, being tagged and then released, a trip that has been rarely documented by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, DNR biologist Jeff Schwenter said.
The DNR says Coral was released to the ocean off South Carolina in 2018, following a year’s recovery. The turtle had suffered a cracked shell from the boat strike.
“With Coral being a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle — the most endangered sea turtle species worldwide — this sighting is an amazing success story for sea turtle conservation,’’ said Melissa Ranly, South Carolina Aquarium sea turtle care Center manager.
Because Kemp’s ridleys are so endangered, they are the subject of monitoring efforts at nesting grounds along the Gulf coast. In this case, a network found her on the Mexican beach, but realized the area where she was laying eggs was not suitable for survival of her hatchlings.
Turtles sometimes lay eggs in areas with too much development or where rising sea levels could flood nests.
So Coral’s eggs were moved to a more suitable part of the beach in Mexico, according to the DNR.
Kemp’s ridley turtles, first discovered in the 1880s, are the smallest sea turtles, the DNR says. They typically weigh about 100 pounds. Kemp’s ridleys have drab olive shells when they are young, but the color lightens as they grow older.
In contrast, loggerhead sea turtles, found far more often in South Carolina, weigh about 250 pounds, making loggerheads the third largest type of marine turtles. Loggerheads, which nest on Palmetto State beaches, are reddish brown in color. They are also protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Kemp’s ridleys dwindled in population considerably beginning in the late 1940s, the result of harvesting females and their eggs, according to research by the DNR. Their numbers have rebounded somewhat since the mid 1980s as a result of conservation efforts, but they still remain endangered, the DNR says.
Officials with the state aquarium and the DNR say Coral is doing her part to help rejuvenate the species.
“Coral has now joined the incredibly important ranks of nesting Kemp’s ridley mothers,’’ the DNR said on its Facebook page.
