Open AccessSea turtles in Lake Bardawil, Egypt - size distribution and population structure
Author(s) -
Basem Rabia
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
herpetological bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.303
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 2634-1387
pISSN - 1473-0928
DOI - 10.33256/hb151.32-36
Subject(s) - carapace , range (aeronautics) , fishery , biology , mediterranean climate , population , sex ratio , geography , ecology , zoology , crustacean , demography , materials science , sociology , composite material
We investigated the size distribution, sex ratio, and proportion of sexually mature green (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtles in Lake Bardawil, a large coastal lagoon. During the study 30 green turtles (8 males, 4 females, and 18 juveniles / sub-adults) and 14 loggerheads (1 male, 8 females, and 5 sub-adults) were captured. Forty percent of the green and 64 % of loggerhead turtles were believed to be sexually mature. The green turtles had a mean curved carapace length of 65.23 cm (15 – 100 cm range) and the loggerhead turtles 68.79 cm but with a much narrow range (60 - 80 cm) reflecting the absence of juveniles. This study provides evidence that Lake Bardawil is an important feeding and development area for green turtles and feeding area for loggerhead turtles and expands our knowledge of such important sites in the Mediterranean basin.