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Marine Turtle Newsletter 87:10, © 2000

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

Loggerhead Turtle Tagged in Brazil Found in Uruguay

Antonio de Padua Almeida1,2, Cecília Baptistotte1,3 & José Alberto P. Schineider4
1Projeto TAMAR-IBAMA, Caixa Postal 105, Linhares, ES, CEP 29900-970, Brazil
2E-mail tamarespi@escelsa.com.br 3E-mail: tamarestec@zaz.com.br
4Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Campus Goiabeiras, Av. Fernando Ferrari, S/N CEP 29060-900, Brazil.

An adult female loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), which was tagged on Pontal do Ipiranga beach, Linhares, in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil (19°14 S, 39°41 W), was found dead at Punta del Diablo, Rocha, Uruguay (34°03 S, 54°30 W), following a strong coastal storm on the 18th April 1999. The turtle had been recorded nesting on the beach at Pontal do Ipiranga on the 7th November 1991, during a regular beach patrol by members of Projeto TAMAR. The turtle was tagged with uniquely numbered tags (style 681 monel tag, National Band Co.) on both front flippers.

This is the third long-range tag recovery for loggerhead turtles tagged on the coast of Espírito Santo. Bolten et al. (1990) reported that a juvenile released at the Comboios Biological Reserve, on the northern coast of Espírito Santo (19°38 S, 39°49 W), on the 26th February 1986 was recaptured on the 17th June 1989, off the coast of Azores Archipelago (39°24 N, 28°08 W). That turtle, however, had been raised in captivity since it hatched on the 27th February 1985 and also had been released at an unnatural site for its age class. As suggested by these authors, these factors may have resulted in an abnormal migratory behavior. Marcovaldi et al. (1999) reported that a turtle found stranded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (22°54 S, 43°04 W), had been tagged on Povoação beach, Linhares, ES, Brazil (19°22 S, 39°48 W), in November 1995.

Although these data are relatively sparse, they do suggest that sea turtles from Espírito Santo can migrate long distances. This reinforces the importance for regional and international cooperation in achieving success in conservation efforts for sea turtles in Brazil and elsewhere.

Acknowledgements: Projeto TAMAR is sponsored by Petrobras, affiliated with IBAMA, and comanaged by the Fundação Pró-TAMAR; in Espírito Santo, several TAMAR stations receive local support from the municipality of Linhares. We are grateful to Ricardo Praderi, research associate of the National Museum of Natural History in Montevideo, who provided the information about this turtle in Uruguay. Special thanks to Milagros López for helping us with the contacts from Uruguay, and to Matthew Godfrey, for comments.

BOLTEN, A.B, H.R. MARTINS, M.L. NATALI, J.C. THOMÉ & M.A. MARCOVALDI. 1990. Loggerhead released in Brazil recaptured in Azores. Marine Turtle Newsletter 48:24-25.

MARCOVALDI, M.A., A.C.C.D. da SILVA, B.M.G GALLO, C. BAPTISTOTTE, E.P. LIMA, C. BELLINI, E.H.S.M. LIMA, J.C. de CASTILHOS, J.C.A. THOMÉ, L.M. de P. MOREIRA & T.M. SANCHES. In press. Recaptures of tagged turtles from nesting and feeding grounds protected by Projeto TAMAR-IBAMA, Brazil. Proceedings of the 19th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation Proceedings, South Padre Island.