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Item Identification

Title: Loggerhead Turtle Class of 2008
Status: Completed
Abstract:

From 2001-2016 [except 2013], the NOAA Galveston Laboratory raised only Florida loggerheads sourced as hatchlings from beaches in Clearwater, Sarasota, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Juno Beach, and Melbourne Beach, Florida. The loggerhead captive rearing program was a joint project with the State of Florida's Department of Environmental Protection [FDEP] and then the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission [FWC]. Loggerhead hatchlings were collected post emergence in cages, or excavated just prior to emergence depending on the location of collection. In 1996, a wild loggerhead sea turtle nested on the Bolivar Peninsula, Texas and the eggs were sent to PINS for incubation. Thirty of the 1996 Texas loggerhead hatchlings from the Bolivar clutch were collected at PINS and transported to NOAA Galveston for captive rearing and use in tag development and TED testing research. Loggerheads were used for a variety of physiology, pharmacokinetic, sensory and behavioral experiments as well as tag development, hook and bait research related to the pelagic longline fishery. Loggerheads were captive reared for up to 4 years depending on the research need. During captive rearing, sea turtles are regularly weighed and measured, usually on a 4 week interval. Morphometric measurements such as carapace length, carapace width, body depth and weight are taken to track growth and health. Measurements may be taken on all sea turtles within a year class or a smaller sub-set and the average used for the entire year class. Morphometric measurements may be taken more frequently than every 4 weeks if a critical need arises for a specific sized sea turtle for research project. When tags are applied, the codes and locations of those tags are recorded in the database corresponding to the year class of the sea turtles. Sometimes multiple tags of the same kind were applied as part of tag research programs. When research is completed, the turtles are released back into the wild in a location that best matches the natural location where a sea turtle of that size might be found. Florida loggerheads were typically released back in Florida waters or Federal waters offshore of the State of Florida. Body weight is used to calculate food rations and sea turtles are raised to whatever size is required for fisheries research. A two-year-old loggerhead raised at the NOAA Galveston Laboratory is the scientific standard for testing and certifying TEDs. The two-year-old loggerhead is used as a surrogate for a 2-3-year-old Kemp's ridley, which is the smallest size sea turtle encountered in the Gulf of Mexico [GOM] shrimp fishery in the and Southeast Atlantic in the USA. The NOAA Galveston Laboratory is the only place in the world where sea turtles are raised in captivity specifically for fisheries research. Records on the feeding rates of each species, of each yearclass are maintained daily as are data on water quality, animal husbandry cleaning schedules, number of people visiting the facility, and general maintenance.

Purpose:

Monitor growth of captive reared sea turtles for class of 2008

Notes:

There are some blank empty rows in the archive that can simply be deleted.

There are a few rows that give average length and weight measurements by a measuring period

Keywords

Theme Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
UNCONTROLLED
None body depth
None caretta caretta
None length
None loggerhead
None morphometric data
None sea turtle
None weight

Temporal Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
UNCONTROLLED
None 2008

Entity Information

Entity Type: Spreadsheet
Active Version?: Yes
Description:

The database contains monthly measurements taken on captive reared sea turtles. Measurements include: straight carapace length nuchal notch to carapace tip, straight carapace width maximum width, body depth maximum, weight.

Data Attributes

Attribute Summary

Rubric Score Primary Key? Name Type Description
100
SPECIES CHARACTER Genus and species of sea turtle. The Genus may be abbreviated to one letter in certain cases
100
YEARCLASS NUMERIC Year in which sea turtle hatched.
100
MEASUREMENT_DATE Date Date on which the measurement was recorded
100
Nest Character Nest
100
Raceway Character The location in which the sea turtle was housed
100
Position Character Position
100
Row Character Row
100
FLIPPER_TAG_CODE_1 CHARACTER Monel alloy flipper tag with a 6 character code of letters and numbers
100
FLIPPER_TAG_LOCATION_1 CHARACTER Location on the sea turtle to which the flipper tag is attached
100
WEIGHT_G NUMERIC Weight if Turttle in grams
100
LENGTH_CM NUMERIC Straight carapace length in centimeters. Measurement is taken with calipers from the nuchal notch of the carapace to the most posterior tip of the carapace
100
WIDTH_CM NUMERIC Maximum width in centimeters. Measurment is taken with calipers at the largest width of the carapace
100
DEPTH_CM NUMERIC Maximum body depth taken with calipers and measured in centimeters.
100
PIT_TAG_CODE_1 CHARACTER Passive Integrated Transponder Code of the first transponder.
100
PIT_TAG_LOCATION_1 CHARACTER The location of the first PIT tag within the sea turtle
100
RELEASE_DATE Date Date on which the sea turtle was released into the wild.
100
RELEASE_ LOCATION CHARACTER Location where the sea turtle was released back into the wild.
100
Notes CHARACTER Comments on release.

Attribute Details

SPECIES

CC ID: 704198
Seq. Order: 10
Data Storage Type: CHARACTER
Max Length: 22
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Genus and species of sea turtle.

The Genus may be abbreviated to one letter in certain cases

Display Example: C.caretta
Allowed Values: It is always C.caretta
Validation Rules:

Must be C.caretta

YEARCLASS

CC ID: 704201
Seq. Order: 20
Data Storage Type: NUMERIC
Max Length: 4
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Year in which sea turtle hatched.

MEASUREMENT_DATE

CC ID: 704187
Seq. Order: 30
Data Storage Type: Date
Max Length: 10
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Date on which the measurement was recorded

Format Mask: MM/DD/YYYY

Nest

CC ID: 704188
Seq. Order: 45
Data Storage Type: Character
Max Length: 10
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Nest

Raceway

CC ID: 704197
Seq. Order: 50
Data Storage Type: Character
Max Length: 6
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

The location in which the sea turtle was housed

Position

CC ID: 704194
Seq. Order: 55
Data Storage Type: Character
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Position

Row

CC ID: 704208
Seq. Order: 60
Data Storage Type: Character
Max Length: 10
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Row

FLIPPER_TAG_CODE_1

CC ID: 704184
Seq. Order: 65
Data Storage Type: CHARACTER
Max Length: 6
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Monel alloy flipper tag with a 6 character code of letters and numbers

Display Example: SSS801

FLIPPER_TAG_LOCATION_1

CC ID: 704185
Seq. Order: 70
Data Storage Type: CHARACTER
Max Length: 20
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Location on the sea turtle to which the flipper tag is attached

WEIGHT_G

CC ID: 704199
Seq. Order: 100
Data Storage Type: NUMERIC
Max Length: 8
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Scale: 1
Status: Active
Description:

Weight if Turttle in grams

Unit of Measure: grams
Format Mask: ##.#

LENGTH_CM

CC ID: 704186
Seq. Order: 110
Data Storage Type: NUMERIC
Max Length: 5
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Scale: 2
Status: Active
Description:

Straight carapace length in centimeters. Measurement is taken with calipers from the nuchal notch of the carapace to the most posterior tip of the carapace

Unit of Measure: cm
Display Example: 48.3
Format Mask: #.##

WIDTH_CM

CC ID: 704200
Seq. Order: 120
Data Storage Type: NUMERIC
Max Length: 5
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Scale: 2
Status: Active
Description:

Maximum width in centimeters. Measurment is taken with calipers at the largest width of the carapace

Unit of Measure: cm
Format Mask: #.##

DEPTH_CM

CC ID: 704183
Seq. Order: 130
Data Storage Type: NUMERIC
Max Length: 5
Required: Yes
Primary Key: No
Scale: 2
Status: Active
Description:

Maximum body depth taken with calipers and measured in centimeters.

Unit of Measure: cm
Format Mask: #.##

PIT_TAG_CODE_1

CC ID: 704190
Seq. Order: 140
Data Storage Type: CHARACTER
Max Length: 15
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Passive Integrated Transponder Code of the first transponder.

PIT_TAG_LOCATION_1

CC ID: 704192
Seq. Order: 150
Data Storage Type: CHARACTER
Max Length: 20
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

The location of the first PIT tag within the sea turtle

RELEASE_DATE

CC ID: 704196
Seq. Order: 210
Data Storage Type: Date
Max Length: 10
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Date on which the sea turtle was released into the wild.

Format Mask: MM/DD/YYYY

RELEASE_ LOCATION

CC ID: 704195
Seq. Order: 220
Data Storage Type: CHARACTER
Max Length: 100
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Location where the sea turtle was released back into the wild.

Notes

CC ID: 704189
Seq. Order: 300
Data Storage Type: CHARACTER
Max Length: 300
Required: No
Primary Key: No
Status: Active
Description:

Comments on release.

Support Roles

Data Steward

CC ID: 704203
Date Effective From: 1995
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Higgins, Benjamin
Address: 4700 Avenue U
Galveston, TX 77551
Email Address: ben.higgins@noaa.gov
Phone: 409-766-3670
Contact Instructions:

Contact by email preferred.

Distributor

CC ID: 704204
Date Effective From: 2017
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
Email Address: ncei.info@noaa.gov
URL: NCEI Contact Information

Metadata Contact

CC ID: 704205
Date Effective From: 1995
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Higgins, Benjamin
Address: 4700 Avenue U
Galveston, TX 77551
Email Address: ben.higgins@noaa.gov
Phone: 409-766-3670
Contact Instructions:

Contact by email preferred.

Point of Contact

CC ID: 704206
Date Effective From: 2015
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Baumer, Tim J
Address: 4700 Avenue U
Galveston, TX 77551
Email Address: tim.baumer@noaa.gov
Phone: 409-766-3784
Contact Instructions:

Contact by email preferred.

Access Information

Security Class: Unclassified
Security Handling Description:

None

Data Access Policy:

None

Data Access Procedure:

Download From provided url

Data Access Constraints:

None

Data Use Constraints:

Not for use in litigation.

Please cite appropriately.

Metadata Access Constraints:

None

Metadata Use Constraints:

Please cite appropriately.

Distribution Information

Distribution 1

CC ID: 704207
Start Date: 2017
End Date: Present
Download URL: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0157625/2.2/data/0-data/Galveston_Turtle_Program/26875/CSV/2008/Renamed_Data_Table.csv
Distributor: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) (2017 - Present)
File Name: Renamed_Data_Table.csv
Description:

File for Captive Raised Loggerhead Turtles, Class of 2008

File Type (Deprecated): tabular digital data (Microsoft Excel, CSV, or other tabular format)
Distribution Format: CSV - Comma Separated Values (Text)
Review Status: Not Chked

Catalog Details

Catalog Item ID: 50749
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:50749
Metadata Record Created By: Lee M Weinberger
Metadata Record Created: 2017-12-13 21:29+0000
Metadata Record Last Modified By: SysAdmin InPortAdmin
Metadata Record Last Modified: 2024-10-03 18:16+0000
Metadata Record Published: 2021-04-29
Owner Org: SEFSC
Metadata Publication Status: Published Externally
Do Not Publish?: N
Metadata Last Review Date: 2021-04-29
Metadata Review Frequency: 1 Year
Metadata Next Review Date: 2022-04-29