Wednesday, June 18th
June's meeting will feature an open discussion on how to maintain your reptiles and amphibians at home as well as our care sheet program. You are welcome to bring your animals to this meeting.
Meetings start promptly at 8pm in the Alumni Room of Medaille College.
Atlantic Ridley Sea Turtle
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
(Lepidochelys kempii)
Photo Courtesy of World Chelonia Trust
The Atlantic ridley sea turtle is classified as an Endangered species in New York State and the United States. They are the smallest member of the sea turle family and is also considered the most critically endangered. Adult Atlantic ridley sea turtles are 20 to 28 inches in length and weigh 80 to 110 pounds. Their shell is a unique round or heart shaped that is grayish-brown to olive to black. The underside is yellowish on adults and white on juveniles.
Atlantic ridley sea turtles will feed on crabs, fish, snails, squid, starfish, and clams as well as some marine vegetation.
Atlantic ridley sea turtles are mainly found along the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to the Mexican border and around the Bay of Campeche. Juveile Atlantic ridley sea turtles can be found all along the Atlantic coastline from the Canadian Maritme Provinces to Florida. They have even been sighted in Eurpope and the Mediterranean Sea. They prefer sheltered areas like estuaries, lagoons, and bays.
The nesting grounds are now limited to a sing stip of beach near Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Experts believe that the shores of Louisiana may be a key developmental area and foraging ground. The waters around Long Island have been identified as critical habitat for juvenile Atlantic ridley sea turtles.
Female Atlantic ridley sea turtles deposit their eggs in nests known as "arribadas" (which means arrival) between the months of April and mid-August. They will only nest on days when the weather is cool and cloudy with a strong northern wind. The Atlantic ridley sea turtle nests in one to two year cycles. Females will lay up to three clutches of about 110 eggs every 20 to 28 days. After 50 to 70 days the young Atlantic ridley sea turtles will hatch just after dawn and make their to the water. Sexual maturity is reached at about six years of age. In captivity, Atlantic ridley sea turtles can live to 20 or more years.
Abundant populations of the Atlantic ridley sea turtle were decimated by humans for meat and leather. In the 1947 there was an estimated 40,000 females recorded on film at the nesting site. by the 1960's this number dropped to about 5000. In 1986 only 621 females were recorded nesting. Today threats from fishing nets, pesticides, and beach development are still a major concern.
The Atlantic ridley sea turtle has been protected in Mexico since 1966 and in the U. S. since 1973 under the Endangered Species Act. The nesting beach in Mexico has been protected by armed guards since 1966 as well. In 1978 the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Florida Audubon Society, the Mexican Govenment and a private group joined forces to transplant eggs to Texas beaches in order to establish a new nesting population. These groups also initiated the head-starting of hatchling Atlantic ridley sea turtles at the National Marine Fishery Service hatchery and then releasing them to the wild.
The Atlantic ridley sea turtle does not nest in New York State, but they can still become stranded on or near the shore. A Standing Network was created in 1980 with the cooperation of the New York State Department of Conservation, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Riverhead Foundation. If a standing is sighthed please contact the hotline at (516) 369-9829. Calling the hotline will enable the Marine Biologists at Riverhead to handle the standed or dead turtles.
Because of the high rates of sea turtle mortality in trawl nets the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued regulations requiring shrimp trawlers to have Turtle Excluder Devices (TED) on all of their nets. The TED allows turtles and other large marine animals to escape in case they accidently enter the net.
Remember that in many places it is illegal to take wildlife out of the wild without the proper permits from local, state, or federal authorities. Please do not release any captive reptiles or amphibians into the wild as this will disrupt the natural order of our environment. See our amphibian and reptile adoptions page for more information on what to do with unwanted herps.
Help reptiles in need by donating to our Adoption Fund! Your donations will help feed and house reptiles waiting for adoption.