2007 Press Releases
Marine Scientists research giant turtle found dead in Irish Waters
25.07.2007
Scientists at UCC believe that the death of the turtle found off Ballycotton was caused by the turtle mistaking a plastic bag for jellyfish. UCC Marine Scientists, Dr Tom Doyle and Luke Harmon are conducting research into a leatherback turtle found dead in Irish waters on July 24th 2007.
25.07.2007
Scientists at UCC believe that the death of the turtle found off Ballycotton was caused by the turtle mistaking a plastic bag for jellyfish. UCC Marine Scientists, Dr Tom Doyle and Luke Harmon are conducting research into a leatherback turtle found dead in Irish waters on July 24th 2007.
The turtle, the largest leatherback ever found in Irish waters was found floating dead one mile off Ballycotton when local skipper, Peter Manning of the Cleona angling charter boat spotted it. The Central Fishereries Office was alerted who in turn contacted Marine Biologist, Dr Tom Doyle of the Coastal Marine Resources Centre (CMRC) and Zoologist, Luke Harmon of UCC's Department of Zoology, Ecology & Plant Science.
With the help of Peter Manning and the Ballycotton lifeboat crew, the scientists carried out a necropsy (post mortem on animals). Dr Doyle explained: "She measured 2.5 m from tip of flipper to tip of flipper while her shell was 1.68 m long. She weighed at least a tonne. Unfortunately, we found a large piece of plastic in her gut which possibly caused her death. Leatherback turtles very easily mistake plastic bags for floating jellyfish."
Leatherback sea turtles are the largest sea turtle in the world. They come to Irish waters every year to feed on the abundant supply of jellyfish. Last year, Dr Doyle, funded by the National Parks & Wildlife Service and the Marine Institute, tagged a male leatherback (shell length 1.66 m) from Dingle and tracked his journey all the way from Dingle to Brazil. He was returning to mate with some females off the coast of French Guiana. Off Cape Verde he performed the deepest dive ever recorded by a sea turtle, diving to 1280 m, as deep as Ben Nevis is high!
The scientists, while expressing their sadness at finding this turtle, have taken samples for analysis and will, hopefully, determine where she originally came from and much about her unusual biology.
Please visit http://www.turtle.ie for more information about leatherback turtles.
491MMcS
With the help of Peter Manning and the Ballycotton lifeboat crew, the scientists carried out a necropsy (post mortem on animals). Dr Doyle explained: "She measured 2.5 m from tip of flipper to tip of flipper while her shell was 1.68 m long. She weighed at least a tonne. Unfortunately, we found a large piece of plastic in her gut which possibly caused her death. Leatherback turtles very easily mistake plastic bags for floating jellyfish."
Leatherback sea turtles are the largest sea turtle in the world. They come to Irish waters every year to feed on the abundant supply of jellyfish. Last year, Dr Doyle, funded by the National Parks & Wildlife Service and the Marine Institute, tagged a male leatherback (shell length 1.66 m) from Dingle and tracked his journey all the way from Dingle to Brazil. He was returning to mate with some females off the coast of French Guiana. Off Cape Verde he performed the deepest dive ever recorded by a sea turtle, diving to 1280 m, as deep as Ben Nevis is high!
The scientists, while expressing their sadness at finding this turtle, have taken samples for analysis and will, hopefully, determine where she originally came from and much about her unusual biology.
Please visit http://www.turtle.ie for more information about leatherback turtles.
491MMcS