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Marine Turtle Newsletter 54:13-14, © 1991
Sharon Manzella1, Karen Bjorndal2, and Cynthia Lagueux2
1National Marine Fisheries Service, Galveston Lab, 4700 Avenue U, Galveston, Texas 77551 USA;
2Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, University of Florida,
Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA
Between 12-16 January 1990, a Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempi) with tag number K1542 was captured in a tangle net set to capture green turtles (Chelonia mydas) near Miskito Cay, Nicaragua, by Sr. Gaston Aleman of Daura, Nicaragua. In this region, turtle nets are set over areas of mixed bottom types of sea grasses, coral reefs, and/or rocks. The turtle was killed and the tag was returned to the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research. No size measurements were recorded at capture. Ridley #K1542 was released off northern Padre Island, Texas, on 2 June 1981 with the 1980 year-class of ridleys from the head-start program at the National Marine Fisheries Service Galveston Laboratory. It was 11 months old, weighed 1.1 kg, and had a straight carapace length and width of 18.2 cm and 16.6 cm, respectively, when released.
The return is noteworthy for two reasons. First, at 103 months (8.6 yr), this is the longest interval between release and recapture for a head-started Kemp's ridley and the tag, a 681-style monel tag, was still in good condition. Second, except for an unconfirmed report of a nesting Kemp's ridley from Colombia, there are no Kemp's ridley records from the Caribbean (Ross et al. 1989). The Colombian report by Chavez and Kaufman (1974) is disputed by Pritchard and Trebbau (1984) who believe the turtle to have been a misidentified olive ridley (L. olivacea) tagged in the Guianas. Of the many thousands of sea turtles captured on the Miskito Bank of Nicaragua, no Kemp's ridley has been previously reported. Whether this turtle would ever have returned north to the natural geographic range of the species and successfully reproduced must remain a question.
Chavez, H. and R. Kaufman. 1974. Informacion sobre la tortuga marina Lepidochelys kempi (Garman), conferencia a un ejemplar mercado en Mexico y observado en Colombia. Bull. Mar. Sci. 24(2):372-377.
Pritchard, P. C. H. and P. Trebbau. 1984. The Turtles of Venezuela. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 403 p.
Ross, J. P., S. Beavers, D. Mundell, and M. Airth-Kindree. 1989. The Status of Kemp's Ridley. Center for Marine Conservation, Washington D. C. 51 p.