Morphometrics Study
Eighty-nine
turtles were measured and tagged on Cape Island in the Cape Romain
National Wildlife Refuge from June 20-28, 2000. All but one of the
turtles had a body depth larger than the current 12-inch TED opening.
We compared curved carapace length (CCL) with loggerheads measured
in Florida in 1979 and again in 1997. The mean CCL for 1979 Florida
loggerheads was 92.6 cm. The mean CCL for 1997 Florida loggerheads
was 91.4 cm. And the CCL for 2000 Cape Island loggerheads was 95.0
cm. Both the size distribution and change in mean CCL may indicate a
recruitment of young nesters to the Florida population over this
time interval. The size distribution of the
Cape Island loggerheads and larger mean CCL indicate a lack of recruitment
to this population. This project involved a total of 7 staff and
23 volunteers for a total of 54 man-nights of work.
