New Perspectives on the Pelagic Stage of Sea Turtle Development

Archie Carr

yan 1986 · U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Center, Panama City Laboratory

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"Thirty years ago when interest in sea turtles was beginning to spread, the ,habitat of the post-hatchlings for all the species was unknown. After they left the nest and made their way through the surf, they simply disappeared. Very slowly, data to suggest a pelagic life in a sargassum weed habitat accumulated, and eventually I received support to investigate that idea intensively. By the end of that research period it was clear that when sargassum rafts are present in longshore arrays within the swimming range of the hatchlings, they do in fact enter them (Carr 1982). It followed that the early developmental stages are pelagic, with the corollary that, because sargassum accumulates along convergences, the adjacent currents may carry the rafts and their occupants on journeys of either local or oceanic extent or both"--Introduction.