Sea Turtles

Oceanus is a subadult, green sea turtle who was found floating with boat strike injuries near Three Rooker Island on July 20th. Oceanus’ injuries to their carapace do not appear to be fresh. They are also missing their left front flipper, but this is completely healed and unrelated to their current boat strike injuries. Oceanus’ initial treatment plan consists of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, fluids, and cold laser treatment.

Xanthus is a juvenile, green sea turtle who was accidentally caught by a fisherman in Cedar Key on May 30th. Xanthus had no injuries from the incidental capture and is in good body condition. They have moderate sized fibropapilloma tumors present on their front flippers. Xanthus’ initial treatment plan consists of fluid therapy.

Aphrodite is a juvenile, green sea turtle who was found floating and having difficulty staying submerged in Lee county. Aphrodite is in good body condition. They do have a carapace deformity that causes a “hump-like” appearance. This could have been caused potentially by some sort of trauma as there is an old injury that is healed. Sea turtles with these types of defomities typically have buoyancy issues so we will monitor their swimming behaviors over time and perform diagnostics to help see the cause of their buoyancy.