Blog & News

On March 3, 2018, an FWC officer responded to a call concerning a juvenile Kemp’s ridley with about a foot of fishing line hanging from its mouth. The sea turtle was brought to Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the vet team took radiographs to determine if there was a hook at the other end of the fishing line.

On February 17, 2018, a juvenile green sea turtle was caught at Skyway Bridge Fishing Pier and brought to Clearwater Marine Aquarium as a hook ingestion case. Upon arrival, our vet team took radiographs to get a better idea of how big the hook was and exactly where in the esophagus it was located.

On January 5, 2018, a juvenile green sea turtle was found floating off the sea wall at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Upon retrieval and initial examination, it appeared the sea turtle had several healing boat strike wounds along with tumors of varying sizes located in all quadrants.

On January 7, 2018, a juvenile green sea turtle was found stranded near Bellaire Beach. Later named Juliet, the sea turtle was hypothermic and exhibited the fibropapilloma virus. Juliet had paps located on her left front flipper and smaller ones in other quadrants. She was placed in a rehabilitation pool once warmed up where she waited for her pap removal surgery.

On January 6, 2018, a juvenile green sea turtle was found stranded on Hernando beach in Hernando, Florida. It was brought to Clearwater Marine Aquarium for triage and an appropriate treatment. Upon closer examination, it was revealed that Zodiac was hypothermic and had fibropapilloma tumors located in the cranial quadrants. The vet team decided Zodiac was a good candidate for pap removal surgery as soon as his iron levels increased.