Aquarist who collected stranded green turtle returns her to the ocean nine weeks later
|Published
Durban — Green turtle Seraphina has been returned to the ocean after weeks of rehabilitation at the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (Saambr).
Saambr’s Nikhiel Singh said that after entering uShaka Sea World on September 26, a beautiful green turtle named Seraphina completed almost nine weeks of rehabilitation and was released back into the ocean on Tuesday morning.
Seraphina was found stranded in Park Rynie and collected by uShaka Sea World lead aquarist Rob Kyle.
“Upon examination by the uShaka Sea World veterinary team, Seraphina was found to be positively buoyant. Further healthcare involved radiographs and a blood sample,” Singh said.
“She was treated with Metoclopramide to stimulate gut movement which would, in turn, correct her buoyancy challenges.”
One of Seraphina’s caregivers, quarantine aquarist Kerry Lavender, said: “Seraphina was very resilient from the start. She started eating the very next day and made good progress in her ability to correct her buoyancy by diving deeper and deeper for her food. She was a very sweet-natured turtle that crept into the hearts of her caregivers.”
Seraphina preferred eating squid, which aided in digestion and alleviated gas trapped in her coelomic cavity.
Singh said that before Seraphina was released, pre-release procedures included thorough health checks, follow-up blood samples, radiographs, and morphometrics (body and weight measurements). To aid in future tracking efforts, Seraphina was fitted with a pit tag.
Kyle said: “Cool to have the privilege of returning this turtle to the wild after having been the one to fetch it when it was found stranded. There was a huge amount of work done by our dedicated team in between these two events to make this release possible.”
Saambr will share updates on Seraphina’s post-release movements.
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