World's rarest turtle, a Kemp’s ridley, washed up on beach

A young Kemp’s ridley turtle was found washed up at Marros sands last week. The turtle was not alive, but experts say that its condition indicated that it had only recently died.

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The Kemp’s ridley is the rarest marine turtle in the world and the most endangered. At one time the species was reduced to only breeding on one beach in Mexico.

The young Kemp's Ridley turtle had only recently died. (Image: Mat Westfield MEM/CSIP)

Since then eggs have been translocated to other nearby beaches in an attempt to secure this species for the future.

It is not the first time a Kemp's ridley has been found in Wales.

A female of the species Tally was saved by British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) in November 2021 after being found on Talacre beach in a state of cold shock.

She was since taken to Anglesey Sea Zoo, who continue to rehabilitate her ahead of her journey home to Mexico.

Read more about Tally here.

The Kemp’s ridley is also the smallest sea turtle in the world, it can live up to 50 years and can grow up to two foot, weighing 100 pound.

Also washed up on a beach in north Wales last week was a live juvenile loggerhead turtle.

Rod Penrose, of Marine Environmental Monitoring in Llechryd says that the vast majority of the hard-shell species stranded on the UK coast are juvenile loggerheads, around the size of a dinnerplate, like the one in north Wales or adult loggerheads that are compromised in some way, for example by the loss of flipper.

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“I’m presuming these small turtles or compromised turtles struggle to fight against storm currents and strong winds and get swept off the east coast of the US and into the North Atlantic Gyre,” said Rod.

The unlucky ones are swept out of the Gyre and into our cold waters by south westerly storms. They then become cold stunned and shut-down.

“These turtles can appear to be dead when found on our beaches but a gentle touch to the eye can sometimes gain a response,” said Rod.

Beachgoers are being asked to keep a lookout for stranded turtles. (Image: Mat Westfield MEM/CSIP)

He added that the worst thing to do is to put these turtles back in the sea as they will not be able to cope with our UK temperatures and will eventually die.

As for the Kemp’s ridley turtle, its carcass was recovered by Marine Environmental Monitoring and will be delivered to the Zoological Society of London for a full post-mortem examination as part the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme.