A Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, was found dead on North Shelly Beach, New South Wales, on Sunday 10 April 2022, bringing the number of these Turtles found dead in the area to four since 27 March. Leatherbacks, which are not typically found in the waters off New South Wales, have also been found on beaches at Toowoon Bay, Avoca, and Birdie. The cause of the strandings is unclear, although the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service has suggested that the Animals may have been blown off course by recent Pacific storms, and then got into trouble in the cooler waters off the southern Australian coast. The Australian Registry for Wildlife Health has collected the Turtles to perform necropsies, which may help to understand what has happened to them.
A Leatherback Turtle found dead on North Shelly Beach, New South Wales, on Sunday 10 April 2022. Trinity Peace/ABC News.
Leatherback Turtles are the larges species of Chelonian (Turtles and
Tortoises) alive today. and have a distinctive leathery shell which
makes them easy to identify. They are placed in a separate family to all
other Turtles, the Dermochelyidae, which has no other living species,
but a fossil record dating back to the Late Cretaceous. Modern
Leatherback Turtles are found in tropical and warm temperate waters in
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as in the southwest Indian
Ocean. They are considered to be Vulnerable under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species,
mostly due to a loss of suitable breeding grounds due to Human
encroachment; unlike other Turtle species their flesh is generally
considered to oily for consumption by Humans, limiting the impact of
hunting on the species, although they are vulnerable to being caught as
bycatch in fishing nets and becoming entangled in abandoned fishing
gear. Other marine plastics are also a significant risk to the species,
as items such as plastic bags can resemble Jellyfish, the main diet of
these Turtles.
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