Dive Into Your Imagination

You are here :Home

Sea Turtle Hospital

Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Sea Turtle Hospital
Mote Marine Lab's dolphin and whale hospital also cares for sick and injured sea turtles! Currently, I am working with three turtles that either have, or are recovering from, a condition called Fibropapillomatosis. Whoa! That's a mouthful! Let's break down the word to find out about the disease:

"Fibro-" is short for "fibroblast," a type of cell that makes certain connective tissue fibers.
"Papillomas" are non-cancerous tumors, created by the multiplication of cells.
Therefore, "fibropapillomas" are tumors that contain fibrous tissue.
In sea turtles, fibropapillomatosis is a disease that causes these tumors to grow from the skin and can create many problems, including blindness and difficulty moving, eating and breathing.

The only known treatment for Fibropapillomatosis is to remove the tumors with surgery� using lasers! Two of our "Paps" (a short-hand nickname we use) have already had this type of surgery: Sy, a loggerhead turtle, and Walt, a green sea turtle. Our youngest green sea turtle in the hospital is Cody, and his surgery is being planned for next week! These three have become very dear to me, as I spend the majority of my hours at work making sure they are fed, clean and healthy.
(Side note: It is very difficult to tell the gender of a sea turtle without doing invasive surgery, so for the sake of these blogs, I will refer to Mote's three "Paps" as males.)

The first thing I do every morning is take the turtles' bowls of fish and vitamins from the freezer, and then I head down to the enclosed hospital. Sy and Walt are doing wonderfully with their feedings � all I have to do is give them their first fish with their vitamins, make sure these are eaten, and then place the rest of the fish into their tanks. Cody, on the other hand, is more challenging�
Cody is a little sea turtle with a huge spirit. He was brought to Mote covered in fibropapillomas and suffers injuries caused by a boat propeller, including the loss of his right front flipper. So 24 hours a day, Cody swims, steers, and surfaces using only one front flipper, instead of two! The tumors get in the way of his swimming and cover his limbs, neck, chin, and eyes. Cody cannot see, and because of this, we feed him with the help of a feeding stick. I place pieces of fish onto the end of the stick and hold it in front of Cody to bite. Mote has a blind turtle on exhibit so the staff is experienced with this issue. We hope that after his surgery, Cody will get some of his sight back, and then he will be able to find the fish himself, without the use of the stick.

After feeding the sea turtles in the morning, I test the water qualities for all three tanks. I record air and water temperatures, as well as chlorine (to keep the water algae-free), pH (Hydrogen), and salinity (salt) levels. Every turtle requires their own water and salinity levels, so I make any adjustments to the tanks using water pipes and pumps. It is also my job to scoop out waste and uneaten fish and scrub the tanks, as well as complete full water changes daily to make sure the sea turtles are healing in a clean and healthy environment.

"Pap" turtle feedings occur three times a day, and water qualities are tested at least twice a day (although the tanks are consistently monitored). Each individual is examined one to two times a week, and let me tell you, it takes a lot of muscle to hold these turtles! They are much stronger than I ever imagined!

These "Pap" turtles must be tumor-free for a year before they can be released back into the wild. Fibropapillomatosis is highly contagious between sea turtles (humans and other species are safe), and we hope this quarantine will prevent the spread of the disease to unaffected populations. Sea turtles are facing so many threats, from the land and the ocean, and their populations are now dangerously low. We hope that this rehabilitation work gives individual sea turtles a fighting chance to survive man-made problems like pollution, bycatch, and coastal developments. The hospital works along with Mote's sea turtle and hatchling exhibits to educate the public about conservation and awareness to try to protect these amazing creatures!
I am very excited to assist our veterinarian with Cody's surgery. Check back next week and I will let you know how it goes!