Good news for sea turtles

A hopeful story in our local newspaper, Florida Today, tells us that we're on track for a record sea turtle nesting season here in Brevard County.  The story notes "By dawn Thursday, biologists had counted 235 green sea turtle nests along the 13-mile stretch of Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. That nearly doubled the previous record for the endangered species — 122 nests in 2011 — ever recorded there in one night."  Dr. Lew Ehrhardt, a marine turtle biologist and professor emeritus at University of Central Florida and longtime dean of sea turtles, said “It’s hard for me to express in words how incredible that is ” and estimates over 2,100 green sea turtle nests at the refuge this year, with plenty of time left in the season.

The above photo is one of Jim Angy's and shows a green turtle covering the eggs she has just deposited (probably about 100 eggs). 

Green turtles grow to about 4 feet long and 400 pounds.  They are vegetarians, which tints their meat green - hence the name.  In this photo, also by Jim Angy, the lady is returning to the ocean.