HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kemp's ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys kempii''), also called the Atlantic ridley sea turtle, is the rarest
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...
and is the world's most
endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
species of sea turtle. It is one of two living species in the
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
'' Lepidochelys'' (the other one being ''L. olivacea'', the
olive ridley sea turtle The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in ...
).


Taxonomy

This species of turtle is called Kemp's ridley because Richard Moore Kemp (1825–1908) of Key West was the first to send a
specimen Specimen may refer to: Science and technology * Sample (material), a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount * Biological specimen or biospecimen, an organic specimen held by a biorepository ...
to Samuel Garman at Harvard, but the origin of the name "ridley" itself is unknown. Prior to the term being popularly used (for both species in the genus), ''L. kempii'' at least was known as the "bastard turtle". At least one source also refers to Kemp's ridley as a "heartbreak turtle". In her book ''The Great Ridley Rescue'', Pamela Philips claimed the name was coined by fishermen who witnessed the turtles dying after being "turned turtle" (on their backs). The fishermen said the turtles "died of a broken heart".


Description

Kemp's ridley is the smallest of all sea turtle species, reaching maturity at carapace length and weighing only . Conant R (1975). ''A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin. xviii + 429 pp. + Plates 1-48. (hardcover), (paperback). (''Lepidochelys kempi'', pp. 75-76 + Plate 11). Typical of sea turtles, it has a
dorsoventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
ly depressed body with specially adapted flipper-like front limbs and a
beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for foo ...
. Kemp's ridley turtle adults reach a maximum of in carapace length and weighing a maximum of . The adult's oval carapace is almost as wide as it is long and is usually olive-gray in color. The carapace has five pairs of costal scutes. In each bridge adjoining the plastron to the carapace are four inframarginal scutes, each of which is perforated by a pore. The head has two pairs of prefrontal scales. These turtles change color as they mature. As hatchlings, they are almost entirely a dark purple on both sides, but mature adults have a yellow-green or white plastron and a grey-green carapace. Kemp's ridley has a triangular-shaped head with a somewhat hooked beak with large crushing surfaces. The skull is similar to that of the
olive ridley The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in th ...
. Unlike other sea turtles, the surface on the squamosal bone where the jaw opening muscles originate, faces to the side rather than to the back. They are the only sea turtles that nest during the day.


Distribution

The distribution of ''L. kempii'' is somewhat usual compared to most reptiles, varying significantly among adults and juveniles, as well as males and females. Adults primarily live in the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
, where they forage in the relatively shallow waters of the continental shelf (up to 409 m deep, but typically 50 m or less),Fritts, T. H., W. Hoffman, and M. A. McGehee. 1983. ''The distribution and abundance of marine turtles in the Gulf of Mexico and nearby Atlantic waters''. Journal of Herpetology 17: 327-344. with females ranging from the southern coast of the Florida Peninsula to the northern coast of the
Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...
, while males have a tendency to remain closer to the nesting beaches in the Western Gulf waters of
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
(USA),
Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...
, and
Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
(Mexico).Morreale, Stephen J., pamrls T. Plotkin, Donna J. Shaver, and Heather J. Kalb. 2007. ''Adult Migration and Habitat Utilization: Ridley Turtles in the Element''. 213-229 pp. In Pamela T. Plotkin (editor). ''Biology and Conservation of Ridley Sea Turtles''. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, Maryland. x, 356 pp. Adults of ''L. kempii'' are rarely found outside of the Gulf of Mexico and only 2-4%Ernst, Carl H. and Jeffrey E. Lovich. 2009. ''Turtles of the United States and Canada'' (2nd. ed.). The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, Maryland. xii, 827 pp. from the Atlantic are adults.Wilson, Robert V. and George R. Zug. 1991. ''Lepidochelys kempii''. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 509.1-509.8 pp.Iverson, John B. 1992. ''A Revised Checklist with Distribution Maps of the Turtles of the World''. Green Nature Books. Homestead Florida. 363 pp. Juveniles and subadults, in contrast, regularly migrate into the Atlantic Ocean and occupy the coastal waters of the continental shelf of North America from southern Florida to
Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
, Massachusetts, and occasionally northward. Accidental and
vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
records are known with some regularity from throughout the northern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, where the Gulf Stream is believed to play a significant role in their dispersal. Confirmed records from Newfoundland to
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
in the west; to
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
in the Mediterranean, and numerous localities in between are known in the east, although more than 95% of these involve juveniles or subadults. Several reports from the African coast from
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
to
Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
involve unverified specimens and may include misidentified ''L. olivacea''. In November 2021 a male was found alive on
Talacre Talacre is a village in Flintshire on the north coast of Wales in the community of Llanasa and the electoral ward of Ffynnongroyw, and is the northernmost mainland settlement in Wales. The village itself has a population of 347 as of the 2011 cen ...
beach in
North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...
. The turtle was taken to the
Anglesey Sea Zoo The Anglesey Sea Zoo ( cy, Sw Môr Môn) is an aquarium and independent research and marine education centre on the south coast of Anglesey island in North Wales. Located just outside the village of Brynsiencyn, Anglesey Sea Zoo claims to be the ...
for treatment, with the intent of eventual transportation back to the Gulf of Mexico.


Feeding and life history


Feeding

Kemp's ridley turtle feeds on
mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000  extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...
s,
crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s,
jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrell ...
,
fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
, algae or seaweed, and sea urchins. Juveniles primarily feed on crabs.


Life history

Most females return each year to a single beach—Rancho Nuevo in the Mexican
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
of
Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...
—to lay
eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
. The females arrive in large groups of hundreds or thousands in nesting aggregations called ''arribadas'', which is a Spanish word for "arrivals". Juvenile turtles tend to live in floating
sargassum ''Sargassum'' is a genus of brown (class Phaeophyceae) macroalgae ( seaweed) in the order Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral ...
seaweed beds for their first years. Then, they range between northwest Atlantic waters and the Gulf of Mexico while growing into maturity. They reach sexual maturity at the age of 10–12. This is the only species that nests primarily during the day. The nesting season for these turtles is April to August. They nest mostly (95%) on a 16-mile beach in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and on
Padre Island Padre Island is the largest of the Texas barrier islands and the world's longest barrier island. The island is located along Texas's southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is noted for its white sandy beaches. Meaning ''father'' in Spanish, it ...
in the US state of Texas, and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast. They mate offshore. Gravid females land in groups on beaches in ''arribadas'' or mass nesting. They prefer areas with
dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
, or secondarily, swamps. The estimated number of nesting females in 1947 was 89,000, but shrank to an estimated 7,702 by 1985. Females nest one to four times during a season, keeping 10 to 20 days between nestings. Incubation takes 6-8 weeks. Around 100 eggs are in a clutch. The hatchlings' sex is decided by the temperature in the area during incubation. If the temperature is below 29.5 °C, the offspring will be mainly male. File:Turtle hatchling close-up, Texas (5984381381).jpg, Hatchling File:Lepidochelys kempii baby turtle.jpg, Hatchling File:Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle, Texas (5984946972).jpg, Juvenile turtle File:Kemp's Ridley sea turtle nesting.JPG, Adult turtle nesting File:Lepidochelys kempii, Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle, Tamaulipas.jpg, Nesting female returning to sea File:Kemp ridley sea turtle endangered species washes up on the beach.jpg, Deceased adult


Conservation

Egg harvesting and poaching first depleted the numbers of Kemp's ridley sea turtles, but today, major threats include
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
loss,
pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
, and entanglement in shrimping nets. Efforts to protect ''L. kempii'' began in 1966, when Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Biologico-Pesqueras (National Institute of Biological-Fisheries Research) sent biologists Hunberto Chávez, Martin Contreras, and Eduardo Hernondez to the coast of southern Tamaulipas, to survey and instigate conservation plans.Heppell, Selina S., Patrick M. Burchfield, and Luis Jaine Peña. 2007. Kemp's Ridley Recovery: How Far Have We Come, and Where Are We Headed? 325-335 pp. In Pamela T. Plotkin (editor). Biology and Conservation of Ridley Sea Turtles. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, Maryland. x, 356 pp. Kemp's ridley turtle was first listed under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1970 on December 2, 1970, and subsequently under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1977, an informal, binational, multiagency, the Kemp's Ridley Working Group, first met to develop a recovery plan. A binational recovery plan was developed in 1984, and revised in 1992. A draft public review draft of the second revision was published by
National Marine Fisheries Service The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), informally known as NOAA Fisheries, is a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is responsible for the ste ...
in March 2010. This revision includes an updated
threat assessment Threat assessment is the practice of determining the credibility and seriousness of a potential threat, as well as the probability that the threat will become a reality. Threat assessment is separate to the more established practice of violence-r ...
. One mechanism used to protect turtles from fishing nets is the turtle excluder device (TED). Because the biggest danger to the population of Kemp's ridley sea turtles is shrimp trawls, the TED is attached to the shrimp trawl. It is a grid of bars with an opening at the top or bottom, fitted into the neck of the shrimp trawl. It allows small animals to slip through the bars and be caught while larger animals, such as sea turtles, strike the bars and are ejected, thus avoiding possible drowning. In September 2007, Corpus Christi, Texas,
wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...
officials found a record of 128 Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests on Texas beaches, including 81 on North
Padre Island Padre Island is the largest of the Texas barrier islands and the world's longest barrier island. The island is located along Texas's southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is noted for its white sandy beaches. Meaning ''father'' in Spanish, it ...
(
Padre Island National Seashore Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) is a national seashore located on Padre Island off the coast of South Texas. In contrast to South Padre Island, known for its beaches and vacationing college students, PINS is located on North Padre Isla ...
) and four on
Mustang Island Mustang Island is a barrier island on the Gulf Coast of Texas in the United States. The island is 18 miles (29 km) long, stretching from Corpus Christi to Port Aransas. The island is oriented generally northeast–southwest, with the Gulf ...
. The figure was exceeded in each of the following 7 years (see graph to 2013, provisional figures for 2014 as at July, 118.). Wildlife officials released 10,594 Kemp's ridley hatchlings along the Texas coast that year. The turtles are popular in Mexico, as raw material for leather and as food. In July 2020, five rehabilitated turtles were released back in to Cape Cod with satellite tracking devices to monitor their wellbeing. A 2020 rescue mission to save 30 turtles from the freezing seas of Cape Cod was delayed by weather and technical issues, spurring a temporary rescue mission ''en route'' between Massachusetts and New Mexico. The
Tennessee Aquarium The Tennessee Aquarium is a non-profit public aquarium located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It opened in 1992 on the banks of the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga, with a major expansion added in 2005. The aquarium, which has ...
offered overnight shelter and care, and the turtles were eventually released to the sea.


Oil spills

Some Kemp's ridleys were airlifted from Mexico after the 1979 blowout of the Ixtoc 1 rig, which spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Since April 30, 2010, 10 days after the accident on the ''
Deepwater Horizon ''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion ...
'', 156 sea turtle deaths were recorded; most were Kemp's ridleys.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) is a state agency of Louisiana that maintains state wildlife and fishery areas. The agency is headquartered in the capital city of Baton Rouge. Mission The Louisiana Department of Wildlife ...
biologists and enforcement agents rescued Kemp's ridleys in Grand Isle. Most of the 456 oiled turtles that were rescued, cleaned, and released by the US Fish and Wildlife Service were Kemp's ridleys. Of the endangered marine species frequenting Gulf waters, only Kemp's ridley relies on the region as its sole breeding ground. As part of the effort to save the species from some of the effects of the ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill, scientists took nests and incubated them elsewhere; 67 eggs were collected from a nest along the Florida Panhandle on June 26, 2010, and brought to a temperature-controlled warehouse at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
, where 56 hatched, and 22 were released on 11 July 2010. The overall plan was to collect eggs from about 700 sea turtle nests, incubate them, and release the young on beaches across Alabama and Florida over a period of months. Eventually, 278 nests were collected, including only a few Kemp's ridley nests.


References


Further reading

* Garman S. (1800). On certain Species of Chelonioidæ. ''Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Harvard College'' 6 (6): 123–126. (''Thalassochelys kempii'', new species, pp. 123–124). * Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is critically endangered and the criteria used *


External links


Profile
from the OBIS-SEAMAP project of the
Ocean Biogeographic Information System The Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), formerly Ocean Biogeographic Information System, is a web-based access point to information about the distribution and abundance of living species in the ocean. It was developed as the information ...

Turtle Trax.org: Kemp's ridley sea turtle Profile


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061116101414/http://research.myfwc.com/features/category_main.asp?id=1289 Informationfrom the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is a Florida government agency founded in 1999 and headquartered in Tallahassee. It manages and regulates the state's fish and wildlife resources, and enforces related laws. Officers ar ...

Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept. — Kemp's ridley sea turtle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp's ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys Sea turtles Turtles of North America Reptiles of Mexico Reptiles of the United States Reptiles of the Caribbean Fauna of the Southeastern United States Biota of the Gulf of Mexico Critically endangered animals Critically endangered biota of Mexico Critically endangered fauna of the United States ESA endangered species Reptiles described in 1880 Articles containing video clips