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East Pacific Sea Turtle Tracking 1996-1997
Citation
Nichols,W.J., A. Resendiz, J.A.Seminoff, and B. Resendiz. 2000. Transpacific migration of a loggerhead turtle monitored by satellite telemetry. Bulletin of Marine Science. 67:937-947. https://marineinfo.org/id/dataset/3279


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Availability: Restricted
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Description
Monitoring of a captive-raised adult loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) from 10 August 1996 to 12 August 1997. more

The oceanic movements of a captive-raised adult loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) were monitored with satellite telemetry for 368 days from 10 August 1996 to 12 August 1997. During this time, the turtle migrated across the Pacific Ocean, covering more than 11,500 km between Santa Rosalita, Baja California, Mexico (28 degrees 40 minutes N, 114 degrees 14 minutes W), and Sendai Bay, Japan (37 degrees 54 minutes N, 140 degrees 56 minutes E). The average speed during migration was 1.3 km/h and the maximum recorded speed was 1.84 km/h. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that loggerheads feeding in the eastern Pacific eventually return to nest on western Pacific beaches. Baja California loggerhead turtles have been shown, through molecular genetic analysis and flipper tag returns, to be primarily of Japanese origin. We conclude that loggerhead turtles are capable of transpacific migrations and propose that the band of water between 25 and 30 degrees North latitude, the Subtropical Frontal Zone, may be an important transpacific migratory corridor. Recent findings indicate that juvenile loggerheads in the North Pacific move westward against weak (0.1-0.3 km/hr) eastward geostrophic currents, demonstrating that passive drift may not entirely explain the dispersal of loggerheads.

Scope
Themes:
Biology > Reptiles
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, I, North Pacific, Testudines

Geographical coverage
I, North Pacific [Marine Regions]

Temporal coverage
11 August 1996 - 13 August 1997

Taxonomic coverage
Testudines [WoRMS]

Contributors
Blue Ocean Institute, moredata owner

Related datasets
Published in:
OBIS-SEAMAP: Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations, more

Publication
Based on this dataset
Nichols, W.J. et al. (2000). Transpacific migration of a Loggerhead Turtle monitored by satellite telemetry. Bull. Mar. Sci. 67(3): 937-947, more

Dataset status: Completed
Data type: Data
Data origin: Research
Metadatarecord created: 2012-11-12
Information last updated: 2016-06-30
All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy