Photo of turtle on arrival at Mote.

12/27 This turtle stranded last week on the East Coast of Florida and was transferred from the Volusia Marine Science Center.  Turtle is lethargic and covered in small barnacles.  It was placed in shallow water and started on treatment. 1/3/07 Turtle is on antibiotics due to high white count and is being force-fed. 1/8 Turtle has begun to eat fish occasionally and is now in deeper water.  White count is coming down. 1/12 Turtle is eating small amounts more often now and doing well. 1/14 Turtle ate an entire meal for the first time today. 1/18 Turtle is now eating almost everything being offered and white count is now back to normal. 1/24 Appetite is excellent and turtle is doing very well. 1/31 Continuing to do very well. 2/28 Turtle has improved considerably and may be releasable in a month or so. 3/15 Turtle has developed some strange white lesions on its skin.  Took biopsies today to determine cause and treatment.  Appetite has slowed down. 3/29 Biopsies indicate probably a new viral infection, but don't have the final report yet.  Appetite has become variable. 4/16 Appetite continues to be variable. 4/27 Appetite seems better, but skin lesions continue.  We took additional biopsies for electron microscopy and virology studies, as it appears to be a new virus. 5/2 Additional studies have confirmed that this is caused by a virus never reported in sea turtles and very rarely reported in any reptile.  We will continue to work to characterize the disease process, but the turtle seems to be doing fairly well. 5/23 Turtle continues to have viral lesions, but does not appear to be affecting its health otherwise. 6/1 Viral lesions persist, but turtle's appetite is good and it is gaining weight. 6/15 Viral lesions have finally begun to resolve. 7/12 Viral lesions are almost gone.  May be able to release the turtle in another month or two. 7/30 Still doing very well. 8/7 Continuing to do well. 8/22 Lesions are completely gone. 9/1 Doing very well.  Considering release in the near future. 9/11 Turtle was tagged this morning in preparation for release soon. 9/19 Have applied for release.  Still doing very well. 9/21 We received permission to release the turtle in the next week or so. 9/28 Turtle is set for release on October 2. 10/4 Due to weather issues on October 2, turtle was released today from Indiatlantic, Florida on the east coast.  Release went very well.