My Deep-sea Fishery

Ridge turtles have a very wide range of habitats.

They are mainly found in tropical seas, and occasionally they can be seen in temperate seas. They can be found in most of the oceans. Ridgebacks breed on coastal beaches and like to live in waters with a depth of no more than 100 meters.

In terms of living habits, olive ridleys are used to going ashore to lay eggs collectively during the day, and there may be more than a hundred of them at a time. The scene is quite spectacular, especially on the coast of Mexico, you can often see the ecological picture of olive hatchlings laying eggs, Ollie There have also been sights of more than ten thousand ridley turtles laying eggs in Sa.

This omnivorous marine creature likes to prey on benthic and floating crustaceans, molluscs, jellyfish and other invertebrates in the nearby sea every time after laying eggs, and occasionally eats fish eggs. If so, they also eat plant foods.

These small sea turtle eggs are, in all likelihood, Ridley eggs.

Xiang Yang thought in his heart that it was a pity that he did not see the spectacular scene of the ridleys laying eggs.

Speaking of which, the scene of the ridley turtle laying eggs is very spectacular.

From September to January of the next year, Ridgeback turtles come ashore to lay eggs in groups, and it is said that there will be as many as 150,000 female turtles at the most.

After laying eggs, these ridleys disperse in the sea near the nesting area to forage.

The number of eggs laid by ridleys can reach a terrifying one hundred and twenty.

Ridgebacks generally like to lay eggs at night, and sometimes Ridgebacks will lay eggs multiple times during the spawning season, and they can lay up to three litters.

Ridge turtles can store sperm in their oviducts for several years, and even if they do not mate with males, they can guarantee the production of fertilized eggs.

The incubation period for ridley eggs is about two months.

When the young turtle is just born, it is about 40 mm long and weighs about 20 grams.

The ridleys will rush into the sea after they are born. At this time, you can see the overwhelming number of little ridleys on the beach instinctively crawling towards the sea.

The road leading to the sea from the little ridleys is generally only a few tens of meters, but it is a passage of life and death, and countless little ridleys will die on this road.

It takes at least fifteen years for the little ridley to grow up. The grown-up ridley has no natural enemies in the ocean, and the ones that can bite the ridley are generally the top predators in the ocean. Reluctant to bite the ridley.

And those who are willing to eat the ridley are generally the second-class predators in the ocean, they can't bite the thick shell of the ridley at all.

After the olive ridley lays eggs once, it takes several years before returning to the breeding ground for the next round of reproduction.

At present, the output of this group of ridley turtles in my country is not much, and they have not been caught in large quantities as economic fishing targets.

But fishermen often catch olive ridleys during fishing and shrimping.

Ridge turtles are not protected animals.

Generally, if fishermen catch olive ridleys, only a small number of fishermen will eat them, and most of them will directly make them into fish meal or watch them.

Xinhuanet once published a report on November 9, 2015, that hundreds of thousands of sea turtles called " Ridley Turtles" flocked to Ostionaal Beach in northwestern Costa Rica to lay eggs from the 6th to the 9th.

Among them, the 7th day was the day with the largest number of sea turtles landing ashore in a single day in recent years, reaching 107,000.

The collective spawning of ridley turtles started on the 6th and ended on the 9th.

It was the 13th collective spawning of Pacific ridley turtles on this beach in 2015, and it was also the largest in 2015.

Costa Rican marine biologist Delfin Mendes told Xinhua that during the three days from the 6th to the 8th, about 250,000 olive ridleys came ashore to lay eggs, of which about 68,000 were on the 6th, 107,000 on the 7th, and 80,000 on the 8th. There are about 80,000 per day.

The number of sea turtles that came ashore on the 9th was small, and the collective laying of eggs was over.

Costa Rica's Ostionaal National Wildlife Refuge is one of the world's two most important nesting grounds for ridley turtles.

During the annual spawning season, a large number of ridleys come to lay eggs.

Among them, the collective spawning from September to November is the largest, and each time lasts for 3 to 5 days.

Ostionar is the only place in the world where it is legal to collect and sell sea turtle eggs.

Part of the reason is that there are too many ridleys here to lay their eggs. There is not enough space on the beach for all the turtles to lay their eggs. When the later turtles come ashore, they will destroy the eggs buried by the previous turtles when they dig the ovary holes.

According to reports, 40% of the turtle ovaries were destroyed by the turtles themselves, plus vultures and other animals that feed on turtle eggs, as well as natural weather factors, 93% of the turtle eggs could not be preserved.

Based on the objective situation of Ostio Nar Beach, since 1987, the Ostio Nar Reserve has allowed local residents to collect and trade the eggs laid by sea turtles within the first 3 days of collective laying.

These turtle eggs, which are also difficult to keep, only account for 1% of the total number of eggs laid on the beach.

By selling these turtle eggs, locals can earn income and have funds to protect this important sea turtle nesting ground.

Xiang Yang scratched his head. Although olive ridleys are not uncommon in China, fishermen often catch them by mistake, but it seems that in China, no one has discovered the breeding grounds of olive ridleys so far.

If these small turtle eggs were really eggs of ridley turtles, then this discovery would be extraordinary.

Ridge turtles are one of the oldest reptiles, appearing on Earth about 200 million years ago, and they live in most of the oceans, relying on a hard bony shell to protect them from predators.

There are about 300 species of tortoises in various forms on the earth, but most of them are not as abundant as ridleys, so large that they can even be kept as pets.

While Xiang Yang was searching around carefully, suddenly, Xiang Yang found a gray rock under the sea not far away suddenly moved.

How sharp Xiang Yang's eyes were, he was sure right away that the gray rock was definitely a sea turtle in disguise.

Xiang Yang strode towards the turtle.

Sure enough, when the turtle saw Xiang Yang approaching, it immediately turned around and swam quickly towards the deep sea.

Xiang Yang raised his brows and thought: It turned out to be a spiny sea turtle.

The spiny sea turtle is also a very common sea turtle. There are a large number of this kind of sea turtle in our country, and it is very popular.

This turtle has a special shell and lives mainly in Southeast Asia.

The spiny turtle's shell is tooth-shaped, with a set of spikes on the edge, which looks a bit like snapping turtles, but it is completely different from snapping turtles.

In young individuals, these spikes are more prominent and sharp, which can protect the hatchlings from other predators, but as they grow older, they become rounder and the color of the shell is mostly brown. It is beneficial for them to hide and camouflage themselves.

The spiny turtle that Xiang Yang saw just now disguised itself as a rock was a spiny turtle that had already entered the first grade.