{"id":4221,"date":"2010-02-23T11:00:42","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T16:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=4221"},"modified":"2010-02-23T11:00:42","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T16:00:42","slug":"diamondback-terrapins-catch-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=4221","title":{"rendered":"Diamondback Terrapins: “Catch of the Day”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"catch<\/a><\/p>\n

Terrapins as “Catch of the Day”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps ironic, pehaps not; the “Catch of the Day<\/strong>” tank\u00c2\u00a0in the Discovery Center of\u00c2\u00a0the Conservancy of Southwest Florida<\/a> features diamondback terrapins.\u00c2\u00a0 Inside the aquarium with three adult terrapins, a few crabs and some local fish is a large crab trap.\u00c2\u00a0 You may\u00c2\u00a0be aware\u00c2\u00a0that vast numbers of diamondback terrapins have been and still are killed each year as by-catch in crab traps all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.\u00c2\u00a0 Hungry and curious turtles become attracted by the bait (and the captured crabs), enter the trap and cannot escape.\u00c2\u00a0 Unlike crabs, terrapins are air breathers and\u00c2\u00a0are drowned by the thousands in residential, commercial and “ghost” traps from Massachusetts to Texas.<\/p>\n

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Female Terrapin Climbs Crab Trap<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00c2\u00a0crab trap\u00c2\u00a0shown in the Conservancy’s “Catch of the Day<\/strong>” tank is equipped with TEDs (turtle excluder devices) that prevent most terrapins from entering the trap, while allowing crabs to gain easy access.\u00c2\u00a0 TEDs prove beneficial for harvesters since they keep aggressive and hungry turtles from eating the trap’s bait first and then consuming the captured crabs for dessert.\u00c2\u00a0 The height of the TED opening excludes larger turtles with their thicker girth from gaining access, while allowing crabs to enter with no difficulty.<\/p>\n

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Female Terrapin and Crab Trap<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Because terrapins exhibit significant gender dimorphism with females twice the length and four times the mass of males, TEDs preferentially protect mature, breeding females with their much\u00c2\u00a0thicker girth.\u00c2\u00a0 Males and juvenile turtles of both genders are more likely to become trapped and drown in crab traps.\u00c2\u00a0 Use of traps without TEDs substantially alters the gender ratio within a population.<\/p>\n

You will have noted that the Conservancy keeps the water level below the TED-equipped entrances.\u00c2\u00a0 Since this trap is not fully submerged as crab traps normally are, even in the unlikely case that a curious turtle climbed the walls and forced its entry, it would not drown.<\/p>\n

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Terrapins LOVE Calamari<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A perfect illustration of why crab harvesters benefit from excluding terrapins from their traps came by accident at the Conservancy while Turtle Journal’s Sue Wieber Nourse was shooting footage (see above).\u00c2\u00a0 Someone placed a squid in the “Catch of the Day<\/strong>” tank for the crabs to feed on, but mistakenly put it within reach of the terrapins.\u00c2\u00a0 While not their normal food at the Conservancy, the temptation of fresh calamari was too overwhelming for a terrapin to resist.\u00c2\u00a0 Bon appetite!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terrapins as “Catch of the Day” Perhaps ironic, pehaps not; the “Catch of the Day” tank\u00c2\u00a0in the Discovery Center of\u00c2\u00a0the Conservancy of Southwest Florida features diamondback terrapins.\u00c2\u00a0 Inside the aquarium with three adult terrapins, a few crabs and some local fish is a large crab trap.\u00c2\u00a0 You may\u00c2\u00a0be aware\u00c2\u00a0that vast numbers of diamondback terrapins have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[402,824,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4221"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4244,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4221\/revisions\/4244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}