Lighthouse News Daily

Breaking Daily News

Saturday, January 23, 2021
Log in
  • Headlines
  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • U.S.
  • World
  • Latest News
    • Inflatable Greenhouse Could Be A Food Source In The Outer Space
    • YouTube for Children Being Launched by Google
    • Some Animals Produce Natural Sunscreen to Protect Themselves from Radiation, New Study Shows
    • A New Genetic Map Tracks Down Dog Breeds And Their Evolution
    • Lack Of Sleep Causes Brain Cells To Slow Down
    • Meet Lyuba, the Best-Preserved Baby Mammoth in the World
    • Reports of Great White Shark Spottings Around Wells, Maine
    • Minecraft Adds Hour of Code Designer Tutorial
    • The de Broglie-Bohm Theory Is Back and It’s Surreal
    • Could High Carbon Dioxide Concentration Make Earth Greener?
You are here: Home / Science / Cold-Stunned Turtles Delivered from Frigid Gulf of Mexico

Cold-Stunned Turtles Delivered from Frigid Gulf of Mexico

February 16, 2016 By Janice Bower Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow

cold-stunned turtles
Cold-stunned turtles have been rescued from the chilly waters pertaining to the Gulf of Mexico, and have recently started a lengthy process of rehabilitation.

Several juvenile sea turtles were discovered as they were floating aimlessly off Florida’s coast, after having been left defenseless by the freezing water temperatures.

Normally these marine creatures spend the summer and the beginning of autumn near the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic coastline, and as the weather becomes cooler they start migrating southward.

When this drop in temperatures occurs too abruptly, they are forced to brave the biting cold without ever managing to reach warmer regions.

Since they are ectotherms, they are unable to adapt their body temperature and generate heat internally. As a result, when the water gets freezing cold, they experience hypothermia, which manifests itself through lowered blood flow and pulse, coupled with sluggishness and disorientation.

Progressively, cold-stunned turtles succumb to pneumonia or lose control over their movements, suffering paralysis and shock. Many of these aquatic creatures die in the water, while others drift off to the shore, where they are left stranded and eventually meet their demise.

Such an occurrence was reported in the Gulf of Mexico, near Florida’s coastline, where members of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium encountered cold-stunned turtles, which were moving aimlessly pushed by the wind blowing at 20 miles per hour, in water whose temperature had dropped to 57 degrees Fahrenheit.

The volunteers immediately launched a rescue operation for the reptiles suffering from advanced hypothermia, while having to accept that some of the creatures had already perished in the frigid water.

The cold-stunned animals were placed in a pickup truck and transported to the Turtle Hospital, located in Marathon, some of them dying before veterinarians got to provide them with medical care.

Seven sea turtles, believed to be juveniles, are now being treated for hypothermia, and more such reptiles will be brought to the clinic the following days by members of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, but a long road to recovery awaits.

As explained by Bette Zirkelbach, manager at the Turtle Hospital, four of the reptiles are currently responding to treatment, feeding on squid as heartily as before, but they will still have to be subjected to surgery.

Apparently, they have benign tumors triggered by fibropapillomatosis, a disease brought about by a herpes virus, and these external growths will have to be removed so as not to interfere with basic functions, such as sight, movement and swallowing.

Overall, the entire rehabilitation process supervised by Dr. Raj Joshi and his colleagues is expected to span for around 2 years, following which the sea turtles will finally be released back into the wild.

It’s obvious that the number of cold-stunned sea turtles has been increasing dramatically in recent years: 68 such creatures were treated by the Marathon hospital in 2013, 93 in 2014, whereas in 2017 their number climbed to 172.

One possible explanation for this upward trend is global warming, whose effects have been exacerbated by an overly potent El Niño in the last few months.

Image Source: Flickr

Email, RSS Follow

Filed Under: Science

Pages

  • About/Contact
  • AccomplishNow Sandra Rechsteiner | A Journey to Self-Acceptance
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Staff
  • Terms and Conditions

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 17 other subscribers

Shake Shack Soars in Debut on Wall Street

January 30, 2015 By Janice Bower Leave a Comment

Olive Garden Continues Comeback

March 20, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

New Horizons Team Published First Paper on Historic Mission to Pluto

October 19, 2015 By Adam Lynch Leave a Comment

Japan Demands Hostages Be Released

January 20, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

Some Laptops at Lenovo Shipped with Malware Pre-Installed

February 19, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

While revealing Ashley Madison names was the first part that was revealed , the next step is having pictures, chats and private messagepublished.

Ashley Madison Hackers Will Reveal More Soon

August 23, 2015 By Janice Bower Leave a Comment

Man Found Safe after 66 Days Lost at Sea

April 3, 2015 By Renee Johnson Leave a Comment

World’s Tiniest Snail is 10 Times Smaller than a Needle’s Eye

September 29, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Hunterian Museum, where the skeleton of the Irish Giant is kept

    Irish Giant Skeleton Could Be Buried at Sea

    Jun 27, 2018
  • part of a Leonardo Da Vinci painting

    Painted Tile Might be Leonardo Da Vinci’s Earliest Work

    Jun 27, 2018
  • Robert F. Kennedy

    More Details on Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassination Emerge (Study)

    Jun 20, 2018
  • cat and dog

    Dogs Have More Neurons than Cats (Study)

    Jun 18, 2018
  • Stephen Hawking

    Stephen Hawking’s Voice to Be Beamed into Space

    Jun 15, 2018
  • cat's blue eyes

    Why Do Humans See Better Than Other Animals? (Study)

    Jun 7, 2018
  • ice shelf in East Antarctica

    Earthquakes are Happening Beneath East Antarctica’s Ice (Study)

    Jun 6, 2018
  • mother with her baby

    Women’s Voices Drop After Giving Birth (Study)

    Jun 4, 2018
  • human evolution

    Why Do Humans Have Big Brains? Experts Weigh In (Study)

    May 24, 2018
  • Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun with dogs

    Adolf Hitler’s Teeth Confirm He Indeed Died in 1945 (Study)

    May 23, 2018

Categories

  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Headlines
  • Health
  • Nature
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized
  • World

Copyright © 2021 lighthousenewsdaily.com

About | Contact · Staff · Terms and Conditions · Privacy Policy

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.