Bottom Breathers Dive Club meeting 4-Mar-2016

Bottom Breathers Dive Club Meeting: 4-Mar-2016

Today's topics: Club tshirts, Keys trip info, sea turtle identification

2016 Events

• Next meeting – Apr 1• Our World Underwater – Feb 26-28• Pizza Party – Apr 23• May meeting - May 13 (not first Friday)• Our "usual" Florida Keys Trip – June 16-20• Turks & Caicos Liveaboard – July 23-30

2016 Events

• Monthly Club meeting – Aug 12 (not first Friday)

• Club BBQ – Aug 13• Mermet Springs Trip – Sep 9-11• Underwater Pumpkin Carving – Oct 8• Pizza Party – Nov 12

Florida Keys Trip 2015

Florida Keys Trip 2016

• June 16-19 (flying on Jun 15 and 20)• 4 days of diving: 2 morning deep wreck dives,

2 afternoon shallower reef dives, 1 night dive (maybe)

• Sharing rooms at Ocean Pointe Condos• 8 afternoon dives + room = $595• 16 dives + room = $919• Night dive will be extra

Florida Keys Trip 2016

• Air tanks + weights included • Nitrox tanks = +$7 per tank• Flights and car rentals extra (can share cars)• $150 deposit (refundable until May 1st) to

book a spot -> info@bottombreathers.org

Sea Turtle Identification

• Terms:– Prefrontal - area on front of the head - "forehead"– Postorbital - behind the eye– Carapace - top part of the shell– Plastron - bottom part of the shell– Scutes (aka scales) - bony sections of carapace,

plastron or head

Sea Turtle Identification

• Terms:– Costal scute - large scutes along the sides of the

shell– Vertebral scute - along the middle of the shell– Nuchal scute - one scute in the front middle of the

shell– Marginal scute - small scutes along the edge

Sea Turtle Identification

• 7 Species– Loggerhead– Green– Leatherback– Hawksbill– Kemp's ridley– Olive ridley– Flatback

Sea Turtle Identification

• Loggerhead– Most common in the US– Threatened status - only species not listed as

endangered• Green– Endangered around the world (1978)– Increasing numbers on east coast of Florida and

Costa Rica

Sea Turtle Identification

• Leatherback– Largest, deepest diving, farthest traveling– Endangered in 1970– 22% decline annually in 12 years along Mexico

Pacific coast• Hawksbill– Endangered in 1970– Rarely nest in North America, more in eastern

hemisphere

Sea Turtle Identification

• Kemp's ridley– Most endangered of all sea turtles (1970)– Only major nesting is a small beach in Rancho Nuevo,

Mexico• Olive ridley (aka Pacific ridley)– North Atlantic nesting declined more than 80% since

1967– Larger numbers in Indian Ocean - 398,000 nests in a

given year– Smaller in size

Sea Turtle Identification

• Flatback– Found only in north part of Australia and New

Guinea– Smooth, waxy shell can be easily damaged

Sea Turtle Identification

Sea Turtle Identification

Sea Turtle Identification - FL Keys

Sea Turtle Identification

GreenSea Turtle

Sea Turtle Identification

HawksbillSea Turtle

Sea Turtle Identification

Green Sea Turtle

Sea Turtle Identification

HawksbillSea Turtle

Sea Turtle Identification

LoggerheadSea Turtle

Sea Turtle Identification

Kemp's Ridley

Sea Turtle Identification

Olive Ridley

Sea Turtle Identification

LeatherbackGreenHawksbillridley??

Sea Turtle Identification

LeatherbackSea Turtle

Sea Turtle Identification

FlatbackSea Turtle

Sea Turtle Identification

Sea Turtle Identification

• References:• http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles• http://www.conserveturtles.org/

seaturtleinformation.php?page=species_id• http://www.seeturtles.org/sea-turtle-species• http://www.widecast.org/Biology/

Terminology/Terminology.html• http://allturtles.com/turtle-terms/

Upcoming Events

• Next meeting – Apr 1