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Discovery of the northernmost loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2009

Jean-Baptiste Sénégas ,
Sandra Hochscheid ,
Jean-Marc Groul ,
Bernard Lagarrigue  and
Flegra Bentivegna
Jean-Baptiste Sénégas
Affiliation:
Centre d'Etudes et de Sauvegarde des Tortues en Mediterranée (CestMed), Le Grau-du-Roi, France
Sandra Hochscheid
Affiliation:
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Napoli, Italy
Jean-Marc Groul
Affiliation:
Centre d'Etudes et de Sauvegarde des Tortues en Mediterranée (CestMed), Le Grau-du-Roi, France
Bernard Lagarrigue
Affiliation:
Centre d'Etudes et de Sauvegarde des Tortues en Mediterranée (CestMed), Le Grau-du-Roi, France
Flegra Bentivegna*
Affiliation:
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Napoli, Italy
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Flegra Bentivegna, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Napoli, Italy email: flegra@szn.it
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Abstract

A loggerhead turtle nest was accidentally discovered during the raking of a beach at St Tropez, France, on 18 July 2006. This is the northernmost loggerhead nest so far in the Mediterranean and in the world. The clutch was deposited close to the sea in a sand-soil-pebbles mixture and became partially inundated in September. In total there were 141 eggs, none of which hatched. Only 24% of the eggs contained embryos, while 107 eggs contained yolk but no visible embryo. The failure to hatch was probably the result of the non-suitable nest environment, the low mean incubation temperatures and the inundation. Further observations of beaches are recommended to establish other nesting occurrences of loggerhead turtles in this region.

Keywords

loggerhead sea turtlenesting behaviourembryonic stageclutch sizewestern Mediterraneanincubation condition
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 2 , January 2009 , e81
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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