Last week we released 10 sea turtles into Nantucket Sound. We attached satellite tags to two of the green sea turtles, 'Ophelia' and 'Cassiopeia', so that we would be able to track their progress. I thought you might like a little more information about the turtles you are following and hear their story. You can also adopt these turtles on the same website you can track them. See the links below their maps to take a look!


'Ophelia'

'Ophelia' stranded on November 13th, 2010 in Sandwich, MA. She weighed 3.6 pounds when she first arrived and had a carapace length of 24.1cm. At release, she weighed almost 14 pounds and measured 37.4cm. No wonder she was on a diet! We actually had to limit her food intake so she didn't gain weight too fast. She ate a diet of herring, squid, and of course lettuce. Green sea turtles eat vegetation in the wild so we supplement their diet with lettuce. 'Ophelia' took a while to finally like her veggies, but she came around eventually.


Above Left: 'Ophelia' on 11/13/10 during the admit exam at the Animal Care Center. Right: 'Ophelia' during her exit exam. BIG difference!



  The above map shows where 'Ophelia' has traveled since her release. She still seems to be in the area around Monomoy. You can follow her progress as well as adopt her here.


'Cassiopeia'

'Cassiopeia' stranded on November 16, 2010 in Sagamore, MA. She weighed 4 pounds when she arrived in Quincy and had a carapace length of 24.7cm. At release, she weighed 14.6 pounds and was 37.8cm long. As you can imagine, this turtle was on a diet too! 'Cassiopeia' was probably the most photogenic turtle we had this season. She was in a tank with a window, and she would always come right up to the glass for some camera time... or maybe she was hoping for some food.

 
Above left: 'Cassiopeia' during her intake exam in November. Right: 'Cassiopeia' during her exit exam before release. She was a good looking turtle and she knew it!

 
The above map show's the track of 'Cassiopeia'. She seems to be heading the exact direction we were hoping for and will likely bypass the opening to Long Island Sound. You can read more about why we did a boat release in my last post. If you would like to follow 'Cassiopeia' and possibly adopt her, you can do that here.

I hope you enjoy following these turtles on seaturtle.org. We are also hoping to create and post some more detailed maps for you to look at, so check back for that!

~Kerry