We are still waiting for the seasonal influx stranded sea turtles to start coming in. Usually we have many more patients than what we currently have (For example, browse all the turtles that were here last December). So far we haven't had as many stranded sea turtles this year. A couple of factors that may be keeping the turtles off the beaches are warmer weather and wind direction. We hope it may also mean that more turtles were able to get around and out of Cape Cod bay before the water gets too cold.


A Kemp's ridley sea turtle straight from one of the beaches on Cape Cod.

But as we wait I thought I would take you through what will happen to a turtle as it goes through the initial triage process.

Labels: Adam, aquarium medical center, cold-stun, Green Sea Turtle, Kemp's ridley sea turtle

The goal of rehabilitation is to release the animals back into the wild, and there are many things we do here to make sure our sea turtles are ready. One part is to offer the turtles live food like they would eat in the wild, and for Kemp's ridleys and loggerhead sea turtles, this includes crabs. The crabs we offer are species that are found right here in the Boston Harbor, including the rock crab and the green crab.

Labels: Acadia, Bandalier, Casper, fecal, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead, radiograph, release

Adam mentioned in his last post that our Kemp's ridley sea turtle Bandelier has stump-like rear flippers. Bandelier stranded on October 17th and came to the aquarium the next day. The first thing that we noticed was the defect in his hind flippers.


Notice the abnormality in Bandelier's rear flippers.

Labels: Bandalier, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, radiograph

Yesterday we had a special visit from Jeff Corwin. He came by to take a look at our turtles and hang out for a small while at the aquarium. Jeff has recently finished filming a new documentary for MSNBC, airing on November 22, and he has just had a new book published called 100 Heartbeats: The Race to Save Earth's Most Endangered Species which tells of the plight of many of the world's most endangered species.

Labels: Bandalier, global warming, hatchlings, hawksbill, Jeff Corwin, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, nests

Part of the rehabilitation process on our animals is collecting blood and fecal samples. Through various diagnostics we can determine many issues that an animal may have.

Labels: Acadia, aquarium medical center, blood work, ciliate, copepod, fecal, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead, red blood cell

We are very sorry to report that Crater Lake, the Kemp's ridley sea turtle with severe propeller wounds, died overnight. Crater's energy level dropped on Sunday and the blood work started to take a turn for the worse. Aquarium veterinarians adjusted fluid therapy and prescribed new medications in an effort to save Crater, but unfortunately were not successful.


Rescue Team member Kerry McNally with Crater

With such severe injuries, this outcome is not completely unexpected, but we had been hopeful when Crater seemed to be doing well in the first week after admission. We will continue to study Crater's case today in an effort to understand more, which will hopefully help us treat turtles with similar injuries in the future.


Crater's propeller injuries immediately after rescue.

-Kate

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Labels: Crater, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, propeller strike

So there is a little bit of a debate about our new turtle's name.

Labels: Acadia, Bandalier, Bryce, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead

While part of the rescue group was off on the cape helping with a training session. Two of our other staff members were at the New England Aquarium receiving our second sea turtle of the season. Unlike Acadia this one fit the typical stranding scenario.


Our newest sea turtle of the 2009-2010 cold-stun season.

Labels: Acadia, aquarium medical center, Bandalier, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Sea Turtle Recovery Room

Hi everyone,

Yesterday we received a BIG surprise from the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Our First cold-stunned sea turtle of the season has arrived. Typically the first turtles are small ridleys and green sea turtles, so this one was a real shocker.

She is an sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle. She was reported to the Wellfleet Audubon Sanctuary late Sunday evening as a juvenile leatherback that was swimming in a marsh. It was already getting dark and we hoped that the turtle would swim back out on its own. When they found it Monday morning it turned out to be this 175-lb. loggerhead.

Labels: Acadia, Audubon, Green Sea Turtle, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead, Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

Orion a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle and the last of our in-house 2008 cold stunned animals made its way back into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday.

The last CT scan on the turtle showed improvement to the lung which had a severe pneumonia. Orion has been eating and swimming well for awhile. After a final exam the turtle was deemed able to be released.

With the colder months approaching, we decided to bring Orion a little further south than the others that we released at the end of August. So we loaded the turtle up early yesterday morning and drove down to Long Island to release Orion back into the Atlantic Ocean. This will give Orion a slight advantage over Goose who, at this time, is getting closer to leaving Long Island Sound and Orion should be in about the same area as the other Ridleys we released from Dowse's Beach.

We were able to release the turtle with the help of our colleagues at The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. We helped kick off their beach cleaning effort on International Beach Cleanup Day at Ponqougue Beach in Hampton Bays.

Labels: Cross Sound Ferry, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, release, Riverhead Foundation

When I first started at the New England Aquarium as a volunteer in the Rescue and Rehabilitation department I was so excited to be working with seals and dolphins. Then, my first sea turtle cold-stun season began and I developed an additional passion.

Labels: Adam, Columbus zoo, Dumbledore, Hagrid, hybrid, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Virginia Aquarium, Volunteer

In previous posts I noted that we provide our sea turtles in rehabilitation some cool environmental enrichment. Goose, the green sea turtle, continues to enjoy his daily snacking of a lettuce forest. Some new enrichment projects were created in order to promote additional behaviors that we would typically see with sea turtles in the wild. Connie and Kate came back from their road trip to Georgia with some great new ideas from the South Carolina Aquarium. We placed a 4 inch diameter piece of PVC pipe in each of the turtle tanks for them to stick their heads in so that they can find some darkness for napping no matter what time of day. I already caught Casper and Iceman, Kemp's ridley turtles, poking their heads in to see what was inside. I also found Iceman resting with one flipper snuggling the pipe, shown in the picture below.



We also made little caves for the turtles to hide in. We cut Rubbermaid containers in half and weighted them down to keep them on the bottom. So far Goose is enjoying the new experience of having it in his tank. He has been rubbing against the outside as well as the inside! The other turtles are still getting used to the new addition to their tanks. Iceman cautiously checks it out every once in a while.



Two of our other Kemp's ridley turtles, Bubba and Dash, seem to enjoy spending their time swimming against the tank system outflow (remember Route's physical therapy?), rather than hide in their new cave. At least they'll have a great sleeping spot when they need some rest!

~Kerry

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Labels: Bubba, Casper, Dash, enrichment, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Kerry

This is an update on our Kemp's ridley turtle named Orion (Click here for all posts about Orion). Orion developed pneumonia several months ago. I am happy to report that Orion is getting better. This week Orion went for another CT scan to recheck his lungs. His right lung is still not normal, but it is improving, and we think that the infection is gone. We stopped his antibiotics yesterday, and we will monitor him carefully over the next few weeks. He will have one more CT scan in June. If that looks good we will make plans to release him this summer. Thanks to the staff at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine for helping with Orion's CT scan!

In this image, his right lung is on your left. The lungs are the darker areas just below the top of the shell. You can see that the right lung has some white streaks in it, which indicates thickening of the tissue in response to pneumonia.

-Dr. Innis

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Labels: Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, pneumonia

Transport boxes with turtles waiting to be packed into the van to head south.

Labels: Dory, Godzilla, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead, Route

Hi all,

Good news in the Rescue Department, Route and Bruce will be heading south to Georgia on Tuesday April 28! In case you haven't been following our blog, Route (pictured left) is an endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle and Bruce (pictured below) is a loggerhead sea turtle. Both stranded this past fall and have been undergoing treatment in the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Clinic.

Senior biologist Kate Sardi and I will be driving Route and Bruce along with 8 other turtles, currently at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium and the University of New England, to Jekyll Island, Georgia. Route will be continuing his rehabilitation at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, the others will all be released after our arrival. I'll blog again with some release photos from Georgia so stay tuned for more on our big adventure ...





- Connie

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Labels: Bruce, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead, Route, transport

Last week the rescue team PIT tagged all of our cold-stunned sea turtles. A PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tag is used in a variety of different animals. Each tag has an alpha-numeric code programmed into the small chip. This is then injected into the triceps of the turtle.

Labels: Kemp's ridley sea turtle, PIT tag, pound net, Riverhead Foundation, x-ray

Bubba getting ready for the bronchoscopy

We have received some optimistic news on two of the Kemp's ridley sea turtles. Lab results for Bubba have come back negative for bacteria. We are still waiting for fungal results. And...


Orion swimming

Orion had radiographs last week the x-ray shows that the area of consolidation is shrinking and air is returning to those healing sections of the lung.

-Adam

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Labels: Bronchoscopy, Bubba, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, radiograph, x-ray

Our Kemp's ridley called Bubba recently underwent a procedure in the Aquarium Medical Center (AMC). After this turtles last set of radiographs we noticed an increase opacity in the right lung compared to the left. The animal was then scheduled for a bronchoscopy.

Labels: Bronchoscopy, Bubba, endoscope, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, opacity, Volunteer

We recently received the results back for Orion our only Kemp's ridley that is still in the Aquarium Medical Center. The biopsy samples that were sent out all have come back negative for bacteria and fungal infection. The diagnosis from the lab is Granulomatous and heterophilic pneumonia. (Video of the biopsy is here. Description of the biopsy is here. Dr. Innis' first post about Orion is here.)






So what does that mean? In layman's terms Dr. Innis describes the biopsy of the lung as inflammation and nodules of scar tissue due to a previous infection. We will continue with our current medication regime and have another CT scan done in about a month.











Clinically this turtle is doing pretty good. The turtle's appetite has increased and is starting to dive for food and it is less dependent on being fed off of tongs. It is also resting on the bottom of the tank more often. These are very encouraging signs to us.




-Adam

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Labels: Adam, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, pneumonia

Labels: Adam, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, physical therapy, Route, treadmill

It has been about a month since Route, a Kemps ridley sea turtle has left the aquarium medical center to take up temporary residence in the West Wing Sea Turtle Recovery Ward. There the turtle is continuing rehabilitation as the 2008 cold-stunned sea turtles get closer to release.

We have recently stopped antibiotic therapy on this turtle because we learned that the cultures we sent out on 2/25/09 are negative for any growth. Route is still on an antifungal medication while we await the results of those cultures. Fungal cultures take on average about 2-3 weeks longer than bacterial cultures to get final results back.

Route has started doing physical therapy on its own, using the systems outflow as a sort of water treadmill. The turtle will swim against the current in one place for quite a while in between sleeping and eating. Although most of the left front flipper (LFF) was removed the turtle is starting to use it fairly effectively while turning and accelerating. Route has also gained over 1kg (2.2lbs) in the past month increasing its body weight by approximately 16%. We can really feel the added mass when we bring the turtle out for exams.

Clinically the turtle is doing excellent. Eating and swimming well. The wounds are healing and we are extremely confident that the turtle will be released this summer. As you can see in the picture the large crack on the carapace is healing well.

-Adam
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Labels: Adam, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, physical therapy, Route, Video

This is an update on Orion, the Kemp's ridley sea turtle with pneumonia. I last reported about Orion in January. I am happy to say that Orion began to feel better after starting nebulizer treatment, injecatble antibiotics and oral antifungal medication. He is now eating well and swimming normally.



However, we began to notice that the back end of his right lung looked more abnormal on x-rays. In this x-ray you can see that the back part of the right lung is whiter than it should be (I have have put an arrow there so you know where to look).


(Click image to enlarge.)

It is conventional to view the x-ray as if you are looking at the turtle from the bottom. So his right side is on your left, and his left side is on your right.

The x-ray indicates that there is abnormal tissue in that part of the lung. We call this "consolidation," and it could mean that there is still an area of infection, or it could just be dense scar tissue that formed after the original infection had resolved. To further investigate this area, Orion had a computerized tomography (CT) scan at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.


Orion gets a CT scan with the help of Tufts staff. (Click to enlarge.)

The first CT image shows Orion as if you are looking at him from the front, and again his right is on your left, and his left is on your right. The first image shows the normal front part of the lungs, which are the two dark areas in the top of his body:


Normal lung (Click to Enlarge)

The second image shows the consolidated (white) right lung, compared to the normal (black) air-filled left lung:


Abnormal lung (Click to enlarge.)

Based on results of the CT scan, we decided to perform a lung biopsy on March 4 to determine whether there was still infection within the consolidated tissue. We used measurements from the CT scan to determine the precise location for the biopsy. Because the lung is just below the top shell or carapace, we can biopsy the lung by making a small hole through the shell, and inserting instruments into the lung.


Orion is anesthetized and a hole is made in the shell
(Click photos to enlarge)


Orion was put under anesthesia, then had a small hole (5 mm diameter) drilled through the shell. We then penetrated the lung to take a swab to test for bacteria and fungus.

Then, we inserted an endoscope into the lung.



A sample of Orion's lung is taken (left) and an endoscope takes images of the lung (right).
(Click photos to enlarge)

The endoscope has a camera that allows us to view the inside of the lung on a video screen:


This photo shows a close up image inside the lung, as seen using the scope.



There are several small brown nodules in the lung (arrows are pointing to the nodules) which may be areas of current or past infection. The scope also has ports through which we can introduce instruments to take tissue samples or biopsies.

Here you can see some of the tissue that we collected:



When the surgery was done, we sealed the hole with antibiotic paste, a small bandage, and waterproof epoxy:




We will remove the patch in a few weeks to see if it is healing OK. Orion recovered quickly from surgery and was back in his pool swimming happily by the end of the day.

The tissue biopsies have been sent to a lab for microscopic analysis (histopathology). This will allow us to see whether there is bacteria, fungus or other abnormal cellls. So far the culture tests have not found any evidence of infection. Orion can be seen on display in our Aquarium Medical Center. In fact, the entire surgery was perfromed on display in the Medical Center. So stop by to visit. You never know what cool stuff you might get to see!

Thanks to the staff at Tufts for assisting with Orion's CT scan.

- Dr. Innis

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Labels: CT scan, Dr. Innis, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, x-ray

Things are going well for our cold-stunned turtles that were rescued in November and December. We have recently opened several new pools in our Sea Turtle Recovery Room, so we have space for more turtles. Yesterday we received three turtles back from the University of New England Marine Animal Rescue Center. These three turtles (two Kemp's ridley and one green turtle) were found stranded on Cape Cod beaches, and were transported to New England Aquarium for emergency care.

After several days of care, the turtles' condition had improved, so we coordinated with our colleagues at University of New England to transfer the animals to their facility for further care. This gave us more space to accept additional stranded turtles from Cape Cod. Now that the stranding season is over (our last turtle was stranded in late December), we have room to accept turtles back to the Aquarium to complete their rehabilitation. The turtles will likely remain with us until July or August, when they will be released to the wild.

The photos above show the new green turtle, named Goose. Green turtles are very beautiful. They differ from Kemp's ridley turtles in that they enjoy eating plant material. We thank the staff and students of the University of New England for their assistance, and for the excellent care they provided to these turtles.

-Dr. Innis

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Labels: Goose, Green Sea Turtle, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Sea Turtle Recovery Room, University of New England

We are happy to report the opening of our new Sea Turtle Recovery Room. The recovery room features a 25-foot-long pool and a 15-foot-long pool. We have recently moved three of our rehabilitating turtles to the new tanks (Bruce the loggerhead, and Bubba and Casper the Kemp's ridleys). In these photos you can see Bruce and Bubba enjoying their spacious new home.

The recovery room is on display in the West Wing of the Aquarium, so stop by to visit our turtles!

- Dr. Innis

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Labels: Bruce, Bubba, Caspar, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead, Sea Turtle Recovery Room

This is an update on our Kemp's ridley turtle named Route. You may recall (from this post) that Route came to us in October after being found on a Cape Cod beach. Route had severe wounds, a broken left humerus, and had lost a lot of blood. I am happy to report that Route is doing quite well.

In this photo, you can see Route's injured left flipper (the end is missing).

Here you can see Route's normal right flipper.

This image shows the injury on the underside of his left flipper. This is where the broken humerus had stuck out through the skin. This hole is getting smaller each week, and will likely be covered by scar tissue and skin within a few months.

He is swimming well, eating well, and trying to bite us! These are all good signs. Route is no longer anemic, as his body has regenerated the blood cells that were lost during his original injury. We recently removed the metal bars that were used to stabilize his broken flipper. The bone did not heal perfectly and it has not yet completed healing, but it is healing in a functional position. His other wounds are all healing very well. We are hopeful that Route will be released in summer 2009.

- Dr. Innis

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Labels: Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Route

We are very worried about one of our Kemp's ridley turtles, Orion. Orion was admitted to the hospital on December 5 after being found stranded on a Cape Cod beach. He was affected by hypothermia, or cold-stunning. His condition improved over the first few weeks at the New England Aquarium, but we have recently found that he has pneumonia. Pneumonia, or infection of the lungs, is common in stranded sea turtles because they have a weakened immune system, and they sometimes inhale sea water as they are washed up on the beach. We are treating Orion aggressively with intravenous and intramuscular antibiotics, oral antifungal medication, and with nebulized antibiotics and antifungal medication.

This photo (courtesy of Rehab team member Adam Kennedy) shows the nebulizer treatment. The box is covered when the treatment is performed to keep the medicated mist within the box. The medicated mist will hopefully get into Orion's lungs when he breathes.

This photo photo shows a microscopic image of fluid we recently collected from his lungs. The large purple cells on the right side of the picture are epithelial cells from the lung. The small purplish dots all over the picture are bacteria. The bluish, segmented, straight structures in the middle of the image are called fungal hyphae, which are fungus cells.

Such pneumonia cases can be fatal for sea turtles. We had one piece of goood news yesterday when Orion ate a crab! I will keep you informed of his condition. We are awaiting some lab tests to identify the types of bacteria and fungus that are present, and to determine which drugs will best kill the bacteria and fungus.

- Dr. Innis

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Labels: Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Orion, pneumonia

This photo shows a radiograph (x-ray image) of one of our cold-stunned Kemp's ridley turtles. His name is Casper, and he was admitted to the hospital after being found stranded on a Cape Cod beach. He has been here for about two weeks. His initial x-rays showed that his digestive tract was not functioning normally, so we are now doing a "contrast study."

We used a feeding tube to introduce a liquid called barium into his esophagus. The barium shows up as a bright white area on radiographs, so we can follow the barium over time as it travels through his digestive system. This image shows the barium in the C-shaped part of his stomach. We are hoping that the barium moves all the way through his system and is eventually expelled. This will tell us that he does not have a blockage or other serious problems.

- Dr. Innis

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Labels: Caspar, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, x-ray

This juvenile Kemp's ridley turtle arrived at the New England Aquarium in October 2008. We named him Route. We don't know exactly what caused his injury. Several areas of his shell were broken, he had a large wound on his left shoulder and left front flipper, and a broken left humerus (the bone between the shoulder and the elbow). He had lost a lot of blood and was very anemic. He had orthopedic surgery to stabilize the humerus. In the picture you can see one of the metal bars that is keeping the bone in place until it heals. You can also see some wires that are holding the broken shell together. Unfortunately, the injury damaged the blood supply to the end of his flipper and some of it had to be amputated. Since we know that sea turtles in the wild can survive with only one front flipper, we are still hopeful that Route can be released in the summer of 2009. I will keep you informed of his condition.

- Dr. Innis

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Labels: Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Route