Conservation experts in Sri Lanka have been left puzzled by a recent spate of marine turtle fatalities, where the animals’ bodies have washed ashore without any indications of the typical causes of death.
Three carcasses were found Oct. 3 on Mount Lavinia Beach in the commercial capital, Colombo; the next day, two dead turtles were found in the Wellawatte of Colombo, and five more at Galle Face in the heart of the city. All 10 bodies were found along a 10-kilometer (6-mile) stretch of coastline, indicating something unusual had occurred.
The government’s Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) conducted necropsies on several of the bodies to ascertain the cause of death. Suhada Jayawardana, a veterinary surgeon with the DWC who examined the bodies, said all of them were olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), the most common marine turtle species found in Sri Lankan waters.
Entanglement in fishing nets as bycatch is the most common cause of marine turtle deaths in Sri Lanka, and this was initially speculated to be the likely reason for the recent deaths. But Jayawardana’s necropsies ruled this out, with the soft tissue on the flippers and heads not exhibiting any of the cuts that occur when a turtle tries to disentangle itself from a fishing net. On some occasions, pieces of the net can be found embedded in the body of dead turtles, but none were found in this case.
“The turtles appeared to be healthy at the time of the death,” Jayawardana told Mongabay. “We found food in their gut, which means they continued feeding until the last few days. If they contracted a disease, that would have probably stopped them from feeding.” He added the turtles likely died three to four days before their bodies washed ashore.
“It is quite unusual to have this many number of turtles washed ashore in a span of few days,” said Nishan Perera, a marine biologist with the conservation NGO Blue Resources Trust.
Perera previously operated a dive center from Mount Lavinia Beach and was a frequent visitor to the area where the turtles washed up dead. He said it was not uncommon to see three or four dead turtles beached or floating in the shallows, but not this many within the space of just two days.
https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...n-mystery-sea-turtle-deaths-in-sri-lanka/amp/
Three carcasses were found Oct. 3 on Mount Lavinia Beach in the commercial capital, Colombo; the next day, two dead turtles were found in the Wellawatte of Colombo, and five more at Galle Face in the heart of the city. All 10 bodies were found along a 10-kilometer (6-mile) stretch of coastline, indicating something unusual had occurred.
The government’s Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) conducted necropsies on several of the bodies to ascertain the cause of death. Suhada Jayawardana, a veterinary surgeon with the DWC who examined the bodies, said all of them were olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), the most common marine turtle species found in Sri Lankan waters.
Entanglement in fishing nets as bycatch is the most common cause of marine turtle deaths in Sri Lanka, and this was initially speculated to be the likely reason for the recent deaths. But Jayawardana’s necropsies ruled this out, with the soft tissue on the flippers and heads not exhibiting any of the cuts that occur when a turtle tries to disentangle itself from a fishing net. On some occasions, pieces of the net can be found embedded in the body of dead turtles, but none were found in this case.
“The turtles appeared to be healthy at the time of the death,” Jayawardana told Mongabay. “We found food in their gut, which means they continued feeding until the last few days. If they contracted a disease, that would have probably stopped them from feeding.” He added the turtles likely died three to four days before their bodies washed ashore.
“It is quite unusual to have this many number of turtles washed ashore in a span of few days,” said Nishan Perera, a marine biologist with the conservation NGO Blue Resources Trust.
Perera previously operated a dive center from Mount Lavinia Beach and was a frequent visitor to the area where the turtles washed up dead. He said it was not uncommon to see three or four dead turtles beached or floating in the shallows, but not this many within the space of just two days.
https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...n-mystery-sea-turtle-deaths-in-sri-lanka/amp/