Waves

Green (Chelonia mydas)

Age Class Juvenile
Gender Unknown
Date Stranded May 17, 2022
Location of Stranding Cortez, Manatee County
Date of Arrival May 17, 2022
Number of Days of Care 51 days
Waves

05/17/2022  Turtle was found floating at the far end of the Seafood Shack Marina in Cortez.  Concerned citizens disentangled the monofilament fishing line that was wrapped around front left flipper and mouth.  Turtle was transported to Mote for rehabilitation.  Exam findings show that the front left flipper is swollen and red and there is a healing incision in the left corner of the mouth, indicating that the turtle had been entangled for some time.  Turtle is also missing left rear flipper from a previous injury.  Radiographs show the presence of an internal spinner hook that was ingested.  Turtle also has numerous fibropapilloma tumors present.  Started on injectable antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, subcutaneous fluids until eating well, and was put in a very shallow rehab. pool.

05/18/2022  "Waves" is biting at pieces of food.

05/19/2022  Waves ate numerous pieces of sea food and sea grass.  Increased the depth of her pool by a couple inches.  

05/25/2022  Waves continues to eat well.  Today she passed some monofilament, spider wire, and part of the spinner hook in a defecation.

05/27/2022  Continuing to increase turtle's diet daily.  Tank is now at full depth.  Continuing injectable antibiotic therapy.  Turtle is able to use front left flipper, but it is still very swollen due to entanglement.

Happening at Mote

Fin Fact

At Mote, we learn about the sea through partnerships with many people—including those who fish for a living. For example: We've worked with commercial snapper-grouper fishing crews to test electronic monitoring (EM) systems on their vessels with the goal of effectively documenting fish catch and discard rates to aid sustainable fishing and fisheries management.

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