THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606210728
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: SPECIAL EDITION: A VISITOR'S GUIDE TO THE EXPANDED VIRGINIA MARINE
SCIENCE MUSEUM
SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY
STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 67 lines
The new turtle aquarium includes a replica of the Chesapeake Light Tower, which is located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
Inside the tank, visitors will see a 60-pound turtle that assistant curator Mark Swingle calls ``one of the rarest animals in the whole museum.''
It's a cross between a loggerhead and a Kemp's ridley, two sea turtles commonly found in the Chesapeake Bay in summer.
Although cross-bred turtles are known to exist, Swingle said, this is the first live one believed found in the wild.
It was ``cold-stunned'' when found. Severe cold can lower a sea turtle's body temperature too far, causing lethargy and loss of appetite.
Staff from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester rescued the turtle and cared for it until last winter. It was then moved to a Virginia Beach warehouse, where Swingle and his staff nurture a variety of sea animals.
The graceful, brown and ivory swimmer will have companions in the tank - six loggerheads and a Kemp's ridley.
The cross-bred turtle has the brownish-red carapace, or shell, of the loggerhead. But it has the pores typically found on a Kemp's ridley's plastron, or underside.
The turtles recently were transported in tubs, lifted by special slings and eased into the tank that duplicates their natural environment.
About five varieties of fish will join them, giving visitors a glimpse of the sea turtle's world and researchers a few lessons in sea life.
Young turtles are on their own as soon as they hatch. ``From the moment they emerge, they're facing trials and tribulations,'' Swingle said. Some will become food for other animals, such as gulls, without ever reaching the water. Some will be casualties of the sea. Only 1 in 10,000 reaches maturity, but adults can live to 50 years.
Females return to near their home beaches to nest - in a couple of decades.
Very little is known about sea turtles, especially in their first year, Swingle said. The female crawls onto pristine beaches to lay her eggs in carefully carved holes. She covers the eggs so well ``you can't even tell she's been there,'' Swingle said. She then returns to sea.
Unlike familiar land turtles, sea turtles spend most of their lives underwater, Swingle said.
There are five varieties of sea turtles; the others are the green, the leatherback and the hawksbill. All are known to swim along the Virginia coast at one time or another.
But the museum doesn't take just any turtles from the wild. It nurtures animals that may be sick, stranded or even disabled, Swingle said. One of the museum's loggerheads, for example, has a slight shell deformity.
Eventually, all of the turtles believed to be strong enough to survive on their own will be released.
Each year, the museum will receive four hatchlings from museums and marine centers across the United States. Swingle hopes the museum exhibit soon will include a green turtle.
Since fall, the staff has raised four hatchling loggerheads. The 9-month-old turtles, about the size of a large pancake, can be seen in exhibits near the main tank, where staff will feed and care for them. ILLUSTRATION: MARTY SNYDERMAN
A Loggerhead.
The museum's sea turtle aquarium will house six like it. by SS