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10 Fast Facts About Sea Turtles
Love our sugar-soft sand? Can’t get enough of our globally renowned local fresh catches? It’s in no small part brought to you via turtle power. Sea turtles bring a major positive impact every summer to Anna Maria Island. Use these turtle tidbits to learn best practices when sharing the sand with these creatures on your next visit.
1. Love is in the air…and the sand
Thanks to residents and visitors who follow our Love it Like a Local guidelines, we’ve had a record-breaking year for sea turtle nests. A record 673 nests (and counting) have been counted on Anna Maria Island since late April, crushing the previous mark of 543 in 2019.
2. Heroes in a halfshell
Sea turtles are stewards of our sugar-soft sand. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are in short supply in dune ecosystems. Unhatched sea turtle eggs help provide those nutrients, generating good health in the habitat. The eggs also stabilize sea dunes to create barriers that shield beachfront property from storms. Leaving their environment better than when they arrived is one way to truly Love it Like a Local.
3. Take five
Five species of sea turtles swim, eat and nest around our shorelines. The two most common nesters are the loggerhead and green sea turtles. From a distance, these two species may appear similar yet there are several key differences between the two. The loggerhead is mostly carnivorous and have broad heads while green sea turtles shift to a plant-based diet as they age and have narrower heads.
4. Time to “Shellabrate”
Nesting season is from May to October, when each turtle will lay between 3-6 nests and deposit about 100 eggs in each. However, contrary to popular belief, it is very rare to witness the turtles or a nest hatching since most of that activity happens in the middle of the night. The female turtles wait decades until they can reproduce. Their internal compasses lead them back to the very same beaches they hatched from all those years ago.
5. Share the sand
How can you lend a hand to four-flippered friends? On Anna Maria Island, there are laws to protect sea turtles: no parking motor vehicles on nesting habitats, no artificial lights that can be seen from the nesting beaches, and no trash left on the beach that can bring sea turtle recovery to a halt.
6. Sand traps
To no one’s surprise, sea turtles aren’t known for their speed. They top out at just over 20 miles an hour—even when swimming. What they lack in speed, they make up for in endurance; many sea turtles will swim thousands of miles over a single migration season. Help keep their paths clear by filling in any large holes you may create in the sand. Holes can obstruct their paths to and from the ocean.
7. Don’t pick plastic
When packing refreshments for your next visit to the paradise that is our seven miles of coastline, consider something else besides plastic bags. Sea turtles can mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and ingest them. Once internalized, it can clog their intestines and be potentially fatal. And if you see a plastic bag laying around, do our turtle friends a solid and dispose of it.
8. Let ’em be
On the rare chance encounter with a nesting mother or new hatchling, keep your distance. They can be easily frightened, urging mothers to return to the ocean prematurely or throwing the babies off course. Remember to dim your lights post-dusk as it can disorientate the animals.
9. Like seafood? Love sea-turtles!
Love fresh shrimp from the Gulf of the Mexico? Sea turtles are a fundamental link in the commercial seafood industry, playing a vital role in delivering it to your plate. They’re crucial to the health of seagrass beds and coral reefs, much to the delight of seafood products like shrimp, tuna, and lobster. The next time you’re having a toes-in-sand dining experience on Anna Maria Island, raise a glass to our sea turtle
10. Want to know more?
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring hosts “Turtle Tracks and Shorebird Facts” at 10 a.m. every Tuesday through August at the Holmes Beach City Hall. Volunteers from the turtle watch group dispense information, handouts, activity books and tattoos as they educate about nesting friends. Reservations are not required.
Love It Like a Local
Join locals and fellow visitors alike in efforts to leave the area as beautiful as we found it so that future generations will be able to enjoy the same natural wonders as we are today.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Whether you’re seeking the serenity of yoga on the beach, or the excitement of local festivals the Bradenton Area is home to a treasure trove of events waiting to be explored.