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Marine Turtle Newsletter 90:13-15, © 2000

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

Report of the Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Cuban Waters

Felix Moncada-G.1, Ana María Rodríguez 2, René Márquez-M.3 & Elvira Carrillo1
1 Centro de Invest. Pesqueras, 5ª Av. y 248, Santa Fé, Playa, Cd. Habana, Cuba, (E-mail: cubacip@ceniai.inf.cu)
2 Nuevimar, Ministerio de la Industria Pesquera, Nuevitas, Cuba, (E-mail:cubacip@ceniai.inf.cu)
3 CRIP-Manzanillo, INP, A.P. 591, Manzanillo, Colima 28200, México, (E-mail: rmarquez@bay.net.mx)

The olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is a medium-sized marine turtle typically inhabiting warm waters of the eastern and western Tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans including the Mozambique Channel (Frazier 1974). In Oceania it is largely absent. In the Atlantic Ocean L. olivacea has a peculiar distribution, occurring on the western coast of Africa from Senegal to Angola (Brongersma 1982), but it is encountered sporadically or rarely in South Africa (Hughes 1974). It is thus well separated from the Kemp´s ridley turtle (L. kempi), which occurs only in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Those colonies of L. olivacea distributed along the coasts of South America have important nesting grounds in localities such as Shell Beach, Guyana (Pritchard 1966; 1969), Ya:lima:po, French Guiana (Marcovaldi in press) and Eilanti, Surinam (Caldwell et al. 1969, Pritchard & Trebbau 1984). The species is present to the east up to Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil (Márquez-M. et al. 1976) and from Sergipe to Espirito Santo (Pritchard & Trebbau 1984), where it also nests on beaches like Pirambu, Abais and Ponta dos Mangos, Sergipe, Brazil (Marcovaldi in press). According to these reports, the presence of L. olivacea in Caribbean waters should be considered uncommon and the result of wandering specimens.

From time to time isolated individuals have been recorded “out of range” in the islands of the Caribbean Sea. One of the first such records was apparently made by Dunn (1918) in Port Antonio, northeastern Jamaica. Although registered as “unquestionably Caretta kempi” through the description of the skull, it is considered likely that the specimen was L. olivacea. Additional records of L. olivacea have been made in Trinidad (Carr 1957), Puerto Rico (Caldwell & Erdman 1969; Caldwell et al. 1969) and Cuba (Aguayo, 1953; Carrillo & Moncada 1998; Varona, 1974). This paper reports a new sighting of L. olivacea in Cuba.

An individual L. olivacea was captured at Cayo Guajaba, one of four harvest locations at Nuevitas on the north-eastern coast of Cuba, on 29 April 1997. The animal was caught in fishing nets set for marine turtles (Carrillo et al. 1998a). The management procedure for hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) at the traditional harvest sites involves turtles being measured, weighed and examined internally during processing (Carrillo et al. 1998a), and the same procedure was adopted for this individual. The turtle was also photographed in order to confirm the species identification.

Based on external features, the individual was identified as a female, and internal examination of the organs confirmed that it was mature. The turtle had a curved carapace length of 67 cm, curved carapace width of 69 cm (cloth measuring tape), and weighed 35 kg (0-100 kg spring balance). The carapace was almost circular, of dark olive green coloration, with some lineal scratches in the dorsal region and clear yellow color in the plastron. There were 8 costal scutes on each side of the carapace.

The first record of L. olivacea in Cuba was made by Aguayo (1953), who reported an adult individual being captured in Vita Bay, Holguin. The next report of the species in Cuban waters was presented by Varona (1974), of a small individual (21.4 cm straight carapace length, 19.9 cm straight carapace width). Although reported to be an immature female, it would be difficult to determine the sex from the external morphology of an animal of this size.

The utilization of marine turtles in Cuba can be traced back to the 1500s (Carrillo et al. 1998b). From 1968-92, the Cuban Ministry of Fisheries operated a commercial turtle fishery throughout the Cuban shelf (Carrillo et al. 1998c), with high numbers of marine turtles being captured annually. However no L. olivacea were recorded as being taken during this period. Interviews with fishermen throughout Cuba indicated that “caguamas”, which were very round, of medium size and green coloration were sighted occasionally. The data recorded to date indicate that L. olivacea can be considered to be rare in Cuban waters, but records of adults and a juvenile suggest that different life stages do occur from time to time.

The development of a formal recording system within the management program for E. imbricata at the two traditional harvest sites in Cuba (Carrillo et al. 1998a; ROC 1998) allowed detailed examination and measurement of the L. olivacea reported here. This exemplifies the importance of systematic monitoring of harvest within marine turtle management programs.

Acknowledgments We thank the traditional turtle fishermen of Cayo Guajaba, Betin and Osvaldo Fals and Osvaldo Prieto, without whom these data would not have been possible. Grahame Webb and Charlie Manolis (Wildlife Management International) reviewed an early draft of this paper, and their assistance is greatly appreciated.

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CARR, A., 1957. Notes on the zoogeography of the Atlantic sea turtles of the genus Lepidochelys. Revista de Biología Tropical, 5(1):45-61.

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CARRILLO, E., J. MACHADO & P. SANCHEZ. 1998a. Annex 3. Regulation of E. imbricata use in Cuba. Revista Cubana de Investigación Pesquera, 22(1):72-74

CARRILLO, E., F. MONCADA, S. ELIZALDE., G. NODARSE, C. PEREZ & A.M. RODRIGUEZ. 1998b. Annex 4. Historical harvest, trade and sampling data. Revista Cubana de Investigación Pesquera, 22(1):82-88.

CARRILLO, E., C. PEREZ, F. MONCADA, G.NODARSE, A.M. RODRIGUEZ, A. MENESES & S.C. MANOLIS.1998c. Annex 9. Management programs and procedures - traditional wild harvest. Revista Cubana de Investigación Pesquera, 22(1):154-156.

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PRITCHARD, P.C.H. 1969. Sea Turtles of the Guianas. Bulletin of Florida State Museum 13(2):85-140.

PRITCHARD, P.C.H. & P. TREBBAU, 1984. The turtles of Venezuela. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 403pp.

ROC (Republic of Cuba). 1998. An annotated transfer of the Cuban population of hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) from Appendix I to Appendix II of CITES. Revista Cubana Investigación Pesquera. 22(1):32-58.

VARONA-L., S. 1974. Nuevo reporte de Lepidochelys olivacea (Testudinata: Cheloniidae) de Cuba. Poeyana. Instituto de Zoología, Academia de Ciencias de Cuba 137:1-4.