John recently found a baby Loggerhead Turtle floating around in the shallows at Phil Foster Park during our Blue Heron bridge dive. The turtle was drifting with its flippers back and eyes closed swaying like a leaf on the water surface. There was a fresh bed of sargassum weed pushed up to the shore with quite a bit of sea life in it. You can see by the pictures that there is a bit of damage around his poor head like a bird tried to pick it up. This floating raft likely looked like a good place to hide out.
I have included two images of a larger Loggerhead Turtle that we know from another local structure. You can see how the shell and body changes. Loggerhead turtles have large heads with very strong jaws eating primarily shellfish. The egg-tooth, which is used to break open the flexible shell that has been incubating in the sand, is still visible on this hatchling. The “caruncle” falls off shortly after birth. Young turtles can drift along with seaweed for many years while they grow larger. We hope that this turtle was able to make its way back out the channel to the ocean with some cover.
If you are interested in learning more about turtles and how to help them, the Sea Turtle Conservancy website is a great resource.