Last week during trapping, the team at Terrapin Station noticed a startling pattern. Over three consecutive days, three large female terrapins were captured with major shell damage. All were caught in Gunning River, one of our southern-most sites. Here, we have witnessed jetskis and other personal watercrafts zip through the narrow channels on many occasions. We can't say that the number of speedsters is greater than in other BBay terrapin habitats, but this sampling of turtles may help suggest it to be so...
The first lady captured had the most severe injuries. Picture 1 above shows her severed front limbs, and major scarring on the plastron near these areas. She's lucky to be alive! The correlation of scarring and limb damage in the same areas is obvious prop damage, versus predation.
The second terrapin (not pictured) had a large puncture scar on her carapace. With the exception of a boat propeller, there is nothing strong, sharp, or fast enough to have caused such an injury in Barnegat Bay.
The third terrapin and her injuries can be seen in picture 2 and 3. The area of her carapace above her left forelimb was so completely cut that it was actually wiggling! As you can see in picture 3, she was quickly mended thanks to some fast drying epoxy (recommended for concrete, stone, wood, glass or metal).
It is important to post these pictures, not so that you feel sorry for the terrapins, but more so to promote awareness of the impact boating may cause the natural inhabitants of our waterways. Observations such as these are a harsh reminder of how important research like Lori and Andy's (involving the impacts of anthropogenic sound on terrapins) is to promoting responsible management of the areas shared by humans and turtles, alike.
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