Post Nesting Loggerhead Turtle Tagged and Released

 AUGUST 8, 2024

POST NESTING LOGGERHEAD SATELLITE TAGGED 

KOCHI BEACH, JAPAN

The post-nesting loggerhead is now meandering around an area that appears to be very favorable for her.

Loggerhead turtle 571 has begun to remain in the same vacinity which indicates that she has found an area that provides a bountiful foraging area.





571 has moved a little off shore and may be moving out into the Kuroshio current.  Stay turned to see where she goes!


Above is an image of loggerhead #571 nesting on Kochi Beach taken by Noah Yamaguchi with a drone mounted IR camera at 0200 hours on August 6,2024.  A team from Usa Marine Biological Institute was able to capture her after she finished laying eggs.


571's eggs (110 in number) were retrieved and placed in the protected hatchery on Kochi Beach.  If these eggs hatch successfully, they will constitute the fourth cohort of STRETCH turtles scheduled for release in 2026!  


Post nesting loggerhead turtle #571's locations and track as transmitted by the Wildlife Computers Spot 6 satellite tag via the Argos satellite system. To date (8/8/24) she has traveled approximately 180 km.

 Dr. Saito and his Ph.D. student Noah Yamaguchi (both formal members of the STRETCH team) were able to locate and capture the post nesting loggerhead turtle on Kochi Beach on August 6, 2024.  

Information about the turtle:

ID: E24-05,   91.9 cm straight carapace length,   68.9 cm straight carapace width   Body Mass = 103 kg 

She layed 110 eggs on 8/6/2024

Tagging Information:  Transmitter PTT ID: 265571; PIT tag: (rear left) 392145000261583, (rear right) 392145000262535; plastic tag: (rear left) 13822, (rear right) 13823

Noah-san (Kochi University PhD student) discovered the female at night on August 6, 2024 at AM 2:00 using a thermal drone camera while it was nesting on the sandbar at the mouth of Niyodo River and subsequently captured it.
Amazingly, this was the same individual that was captured after nesting on May 19 of the same year. It had not been tagged prior to that time.

IMAGES OF LOGGERHEAD # 571

Adult female loggerhead turtle (#571) captured post nesting by Usa Marine Biological Institute scientist Tomomi Saito and his team on August 6, 2024.  She is a healthy, 91 cm SCL turtle that was observed nesting once before on May 19, 2024.



Loggerhead turtle #571 being released on August 6, 2024 with a Wildlife Computer Spot 6 satellite tag attached to her carapace.  






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