Sussex Wildlife
Stranded
Above: A Turtle
Sussex Life
It was a leatherback turtle, yet another indicator of turtle numbers around the shores of the UK increasing as the seas get warmer.
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There were around 600 reported strandings of marine turtles last century, the majority of which have been the leatherback – the largest turtle in the world. The last recorded ‘live’ sighting off Sussex was five miles from the coast at Hastings in 2002.
Unlike all other marine turtles the leatherback doesn’t have a hard shell, or carapace as such, but has a mass of small, bony platelets that are fused into a thick skin and a number of ridges along the length of its back, hence the name. It is found in warm waters across the globe, but the main breeding grounds are off the coast of Central and South America. Leatherbacks feed mainly on jellyfish and will follow swarms of them across the North Atlantic. The summer of 2006 saw an explosion in jellyfish numbers which led to a corresponding increase in leatherback sightings and with the slight rise in sea temperatures they will soon be recognised as a true member of the British fauna.
Click HERE to read the full article in the Sussex Life digital archives
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