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Marine Turtle Newsletter No. 99, 2003 - Page

DRAGOVICH, A.J. & J.A. KELLY, JR. 1964. Ecological

observations of macro-invertebrates in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Bulletin of Marine Science of the Gulf and Caribbean 14:

74-102.

FRICK, M.G., K.L. WILLIAMS & L. PIERRARD. 2001.

Summertime foraging and feeding by immature

loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from Georgia.

Chelonian Conservation and Biology 4: 178-181.

GRAY, I.E. 1957. A comparative study of the gill area of crabs.

Biological Bulletin 112: 34-42.

HOUGHTON, J.D.R., A. WOOLMER & G.C. HAYS. 2000.

Sea turtle diving and foraging behaviour around the Greek

island of Kefalonia. Journal of the Marine Biological

Association of the United Kingdom 80: 761-762.

PEARSE, A.S., H.J. HUMM & G.W. WHARTON. 1942.

Ecology of sand beaches at Beaufort, North Carolina.

Ecological Monographs 12: 35-190.

PREEN, A.R. 1996. Infaunal mining: a novel foraging methodof loggerhead turtles. Journal of Herpetology 30: 94-96.

PLOTKIN, P.T., M.K. WICKSTEIN & A.F. AMOS. 1993.

Feeding ecology of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta

caretta in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Marine

Biology 115: 1-5.

SHAVER, D.J. 1991. Feeding ecology of wild and head-started

Kemps ridley sea turtles in south Texas waters. Journal

of Herpetology 25: 327-334.

SIEBENALER, J.B. 1952. Studies of trash caught by shrimp

trawlers in Florida. Proceedings of the Gulf and Caribbean

Fisheries Institute, Fourth Annual Session, Miami Beach,

November 1951. pp. 94-99.

WILLIAMS, A.B. 1984. Shrimps, lobsters and crabs of the Atlantic

coast of the eastern United States, Maine to Florida.

Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 550 pp.

WILLIAMS, K.L. & M.G. FRICK. 2001. Results from the long-

term monitoring of nesting loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta

caretta) on Wassaw Island, Georgia: 1973-2000. NOAA

Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-446. 32 pp.

First Record of Juvenile Leatherback Stranding in Mona Island, Puerto Rico

Ximena Vlez-Zuazo1, Mara Rondn2 & Carlos E. Diez3

1 Grupo de Tortugas Marinas-Peru, APECO, Pque. Jose de Acosta 187, Lima 17. Peru2 Centro de Investigacin y Conservacin de Tortugas Marinas, Apdo 50.789. Caracas 1050-A. Venezuela

3 Programa de Especies Protegidas, DRNA-PR, San Juan, Puerto Rico

The leatherback turtle is a highly pelagic species

that approaches coastal waters only during the

reproductive season (Marquez 1990). According to

Eckert (2002), juvenile leatherbacks inhabit tropical

waters until they exceed 100 cm in carapace length,

and the number of sighting of small juveniles is very

rare. Some authors have proposed that juvenile and sub-

adult leatherbacks are rarely observed due to fast growth

rates and their pelagic behavior (Pritchard & Trebbau

1984; Zug & Parham 1996).Therefore, it is of value to

document the observation of small juvenile

leatherbacks. The following information is from a

stranding of a juvenile leatherback (Dermochelyscoriacea) found at Mona Island, Puerto Rico. On

November 7, 2001, after a week of heavy weather, a

leatherback was found, stranded on the shore at Playa

Mujeres (south-east coast) on Mona Island (1805N,

6754W). The turtle was missing its right front flipper

and had no eyes due to the advanced stage of

decomposition. Its measurements were 16.7 cm over-

the-curve carapace length (OC) and 11.7 cm OC

carapace width. It can be inferred by the size of the

animal, that it was less than one year old (Zug & Parham

1996). Although this is not the first time a juvenile

stranded leatherback turtle is reported in Puerto Rico

(Johnson 1989) it is the first record for Mona Island.

ECKERT, S.A. 2002. Distribution of juvenile leatherback

sea turtle, Dermochelys coriacea sightings. Marine

Ecology Progress Series 230: 289-293.

JOHNSON, M. L. 1989. Juvenile leatherback cared for in

captivity. Marine Turtle Newsletter 47: 13-14.

MARQUEZ M., R. 1990. FAO Species catalogue. Vol. 11:

Sea turtles of the world. An annotated and illustratedcatalogue of sea turtle species known to date. FAO

Fisheries Synopsis No. 125, Vol. 11. Rome, FAO. 1990.

81 p.

PRITCHARD, P. D. H. & TREBBAU, P. 1984. The Turtles

of Venezuela: Society for the Study of Amphibians and

Reptiles Contributions to Herpetology 2: 403 pp.

ZUG, G.R. & J. F. PARHAM. 1996. Age and growth in

leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea: A

skeletochronolgical analysis. Chelonian Conservation

and Biology 2: 244-249.18