Spirorchiids (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) infecting a Hawksbill sea turtle Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus 1758) from Brazil

Occurrence of Amphiorchis indicus Mehrotra, 1973 (Digenea, Spirorchiidae) infecting green turtle Chelonia mydas Linnaeus, 1758 (Testudines, Cheloniidae) in Brazil.

First report of Monticellius indicum Mehra, 1939 (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) infecting Chelonia mydas Linnaeus, 1758 (Testudines: Chelonidae) from Brazil.

The family Spirorchiidae includes trematodes of freshwater and marine chelonian blood vessels. Up to now, Learedius learedi Price, 1934 has been the only species of this family described in Brazil (Werneck et al., 2006). The present study reports for the first time the occurrence of Monticellius indicum Mehra, 1939 in Brazilian waters. Specimens of M. indicum were collected from the heart of tw...

Increase in hawksbill sea turtle Eretmochelys imbricata nesting in Barbados, West Indies

Nesting by hawksbill sea turtles Eretmochelys imbricata in Barbados, West Indies, has been monitored since 1992. Data from the index beach indicate that the number of nests may have increased as much as 8-fold over this period. The estimated abundance of nesting females on Barbados is 1250, suggesting that this eastern Caribbean island now hosts one of the largest rookeries in the wider Caribbe...

Morphological Characteristics of the Carapace of the Hawksbill Turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, from Cuban Waters

Hawksbill turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus, 1766), from Cuban waters of the Caribbean were analyzed to determine the relationships between straight carapace length (SCL) and either straight carapace width (SCW) or body weight (Wt). The regression equations were SCW = 0.9136(SCL)0.951 (R2 = 0.923, n = 315) and Wt = 4.17 10–4(SCL)2.68 (R2 = 0.798, n = 289), respectively. The regression e...

Ghrelin and leptin modulate the feeding behaviour of the hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata during nesting season

Female sea turtles have rarely been observed foraging during the nesting season. This suggests that prior to their migration to nesting beaches the females must store sufficient energy and nutrients at their foraging grounds and must be physiologically capable of undergoing months without feeding. Leptin (an appetite-suppressing protein) and ghrelin (a hunger-stimulating peptide) affect body we...