Tortoiseshell is a beautiful but actually ferocious turtle. It is a turtle species that has been hunted by humans for a long time because its turtle shell is very valuable. It is not only an extremely luxurious decoration but also a medicinal material. Over the years, endless hunting has led to its near extinction, so it is rare to see it in our country's waters.
The appearance of the tortoiseshell is similar to that of other sea turtles, with a flat body, protective carapace, and paddle-shaped flippers for swimming. The most obvious characteristic of the tortoiseshell is its beak-like mouth and saw-toothed edges on the posterior part of its body. The shell of the tortoiseshell is adorned with beautiful and colorful patterns, making it a valuable gemstone. It can be used as a raw material for jewelry, sculptures, and other decorative items. It is noble and elegant, symbolizing auspiciousness, happiness, good health, and longevity. It is known as the "sea gold".
Chinese aliases: 瑇瑁、蝳蝐、瑇玳、文甲、鹰嘴海龟、十三鲮龟、十三鳞、十三棱龟、明玳瑁、千年龟
English name: Hawksbill Turtle
Binomial name: Eretmochelys imbricata
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Subclass: Anapsida
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Cheloniidae
Subfamily: Chelonioidea
Tribe: Carettini
Genus: Eretmochelys Fitzinger, 1843
Subgenus: Eretmochelys
Species: E. imbricata
Distribution: Mainly from tropical and subtropical waters, especially Malaysia, Indonesia, the West Indies, and Brazil, as well as the waters of Central and South America.
The main living areas of Tortoiseshell are shallow water lagoons and coral reefs. The many caves and deep valleys in the coral reefs provide resting places for it. The main food of Tortoiseshell, which also lives in the coral reefs, is sponges. Tortoiseshell is a turtle species that can digest glass. Its diet also includes jellyfish, anemones, shrimp crabs, mollusks, as well as fish and seaweed. It is distributed in vast seas, mainly found in tropical regions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Not recommended for keeping,
Do not keep turtles easily, it is best to confirm before keeping:
1. Have a large enough place, such as an outdoor pool, they will grow very fast and large.
2. The source of seawater or the ability to buy seawater raw materials.
3. Always prepare fresh seafood.
4. Have sufficient financial resources, this thing is very expensive.
5. Have enough time to take care of him.
1. Nutritional disorders: Vitamin A deficiency can be diagnosed by eye inflammation. When this symptom occurs, you can feed the turtle with cod liver oil, and vitamin E deficiency needs to be supplemented in a timely manner. For nutritional disorders, prevention is key. Feeding vitamins is an effective way to supplement inadequate nutrition, such as incorporating Hexie vitamin or Sheerkang into the feed. Under artificial breeding conditions, if you can avoid long-term feeding of a single or inappropriate feed, you can effectively prevent nutritional disorders.
Some diseases have symptoms similar to nutritional disorders, such as infectious eye diseases and intestinal obstruction. Comprehensive consideration should be given during treatment.
2. Trauma: Injured turtles should be isolated and treated in a timely manner to prevent wound recurrence. To reduce stress during treatment, the turtle can be placed in a special PVC treatment tank. Fresh seawater at around 28°C should be used for isolation treatment, which helps to speed up recovery. For the treatment of wounds, iodine, red medicine, furansulfin, Yunnan Baiyao, and other common medications can be made into ointments and applied to the affected areas. Chloramphenicol bath with a dosage of 60g/m³ to 70g/m³ can also be used. Eliminate factors that cause trauma and keep the water temperature and water quality clean. Apply gentian violet solution to the affected area of the tortoiseshell 1-2 times a day, which has a significant effect.
3. Infections: In general, infectious dermatitis in turtles is rarely caused by a single bacterium, so it is not easy to treat. Conducting drug experiments is necessary in order to select effective medications. The treatment of infectious skin diseases requires a combination of oral and topical medications. Table 1 summarizes the medications and methods for treating turtle infections by Iwaya Hidesuke and Dalian Saint-Yay Marine World. For the treatment of infectious eye diseases, infected turtles can be isolated in a treatment tank and treated with antibiotic eye ointment or Ofloxacin eye drops.
4. Cold: Intramuscular injection of penicillin, aminopyrine, and BLVL; oral administration of penicillin capsules, banlangen, etc.
5. Dysentery: Intramuscular injection of chloramphenicol, berberine, etc.; oral administration of chloramphenicol, berberine, phenylbutazone. After cure, supplement nutrition with products such as digestive enzymes, complex B vitamins, vitamin E, A, and moneywort decoction, with dosage adjusted according to body size.
In addition, for tortoiseshells with indigestion and symptoms of enteritis, the water temperature can be quickly raised, water quality improved, and feeding conducted at regular intervals and in appropriate amounts. Injection of berberine and chloramphenicol can be administered until the tortoiseshell's appetite returns to normal and normal defecation resumes, at which point treatment can be stopped.
6. Swollen neck disease: Drain the water in a timely manner. Wash and disinfect the water tank with a 1% copper sulfate solution. Replace with fresh water containing 2% salt. Administer intramuscular injections of procaine penicillin at a dose of 40,000 IU/kg and streptomycin sulfate at a dose of 50,000 IU/kg once a day at the neck base. Alternatively, scrub and soak the affected area with a 0.1% potassium permanganate or 0.5% copper sulfate solution for 30 minutes, then place the tortoiseshell back into the rearing tank. Generally, recovery can be achieved within 4-6 days using the above methods.
7. Water mold disease: Make sure to change the water regularly and improve water quality. Thoroughly disinfect the water tank with a 1% copper sulfate solution and replace with fresh water containing 2% salt. Adjust the water temperature properly. Apply a 1% copper sulfate solution to the affected area until the ulcer pseudomembrane is removed (avoid contact with healthy skin and eyes during application), then scrub and soak the entire tortoiseshell with a 0.5% copper sulfate solution or a 0.1% potassium permanganate solution for 30 minutes. Finally, apply gentian violet solution to the affected area and the whole body of the tortoiseshell. As long as appetite is restored, the disease can be cured.
Tortoiseshell has a distinctive food preference, which also indicates that it is not easy to raise tortoiseshells artificially. However, in the vast ocean, the food for tortoiseshells is still abundant. Do you know which strange creatures tortoiseshells eat? Let me introduce them to you.
Tortoiseshells like to forage in coral reefs, continental shelves, or shallow shores covered with brown algae. Although tortoiseshells are omnivorous, their main food is still sponges. Sponges account for 70-95% of the total diet of Caribbean tortoiseshells. They have a large appetite, with Caribbean tortoiseshells consuming an average of 544 kilograms of sponges per year. However, like other sponge-eating animals, tortoiseshells only forage for a few specific sponge species, and other sponges do not become their food. Caribbean tortoiseshells mainly forage on common sponges, especially those in the classes Hexactinellida, Astrophorida, and Haplosclerida; the known sponge species eaten by tortoiseshells include Geodia gibberosa (a bowl sponge with many cavities on its surface).
In addition to sponges, tortoiseshells also feed on seaweed, as well as cnidarian animals such as jellyfish and sea anemones. Tortoiseshells also prey on the extremely dangerous scyphozoan animals, such as the deadly box jellyfish. When hunting these cnidarian animals, tortoiseshells close their eyes, without protective structures, and the cnidocytes of highly venomous animals like box jellyfish cannot penetrate the tortoiseshells' scaly heads, so tortoiseshells are not threatened. Tortoiseshells sometimes also prey on shrimps, crabs, and mollusks. Their powerful jaws can crush crab shells and even extremely hard and thick-shell bivalves, such as the class Bivalvia. The hooked and curved beak-like mouth of tortoiseshells provides convenience for them to catch small shrimps and squid in coral crevices.
Tortoiseshells have strong adaptability and resistance to their prey. Some sponges they forage on, such as Aaptos aaptos (dark red meatball-shaped), liver sponge, Tethya actinia (emerald green or brownish-green ball-shaped, occasionally orange individuals), Spheciospongia vesparium (dark red wine-barrel-shaped), and hermit crab sponge, are highly toxic and often lethal to other organisms. In addition, tortoiseshells also choose sponges rich in siliceous spicules as their food, such as Ancorina, Geodia, Ecionemia, and Placospongia.
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