 Migaloo's turtle cousin
Monday, 3 July 2006
ABC Tropical North Queensland
Reporter: Judy Kelly
One of the most sought after shots last week was of Migaloo the white whale who surfaced on the waters near the Gold Coast, creating a wave of excitement throughout the state.
While Migaloo keeps to the southern Queensland waters, he has a relation of sorts in the Tropical North - an albino turtle who was found on Mackay's Blacks Beach about three months ago.
There were grave concerns for the welfare of the cute white turtle who was shipped off to the Great Barrier Reef Marina Park Authority's (GBRMPA) Reef HQ in Townsville to be monitored and cared for.
Turtle carer, Paul Groves is pleased to report that the little fellow is doing very well indeed. After arriving at Reef HQ weighing 24g and measuring 51mm in length, he's now a whopping 140g and 105mm long. "He's actually outgrown his tank," Paul explains. He'll shortly be moved to the turtle rehabilitation centre but he's spending the school holidays on display to coincide with the centre's turtle program.
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A white turtle swimming out to sea on a dark ocean is a sitting duck for any seabirds
His housing options are limited, as Paul explains. "Because of his colour if we put him in with other turtles he's probably very vulnerable to attack so he's probably going to have to spend quite a bit of his younger life, especially, on his own."
The plan is to move him out to a specially designed turtle nursery for young hatchling turtles and he'll stay out there until he's big enough to join other animals.
And while the turtle's referred to as him, Paul admits they don't really know the sex yet. "We won't be able to tell until it's about 30 or 40 years old which is when they become sexually mature." He explains further, "from birth their sex is actually determined by the temperature that the eggs incubate at in the nest. So, the sex has been pre-determined but there's no actual external signs."
It's not only its sex that's unconfirmed, it doesn't have a name yet either. "I think there's some things in the pipeline, but I can't really elaborate on that yet," Paul says mysteriously. "But everyone here has their own little nickname for him but there's nothing that's stuck."
While 'yet unnamed turtle' is white, it seems he (or she) isn't a true albino. "A true albino lacks pigment and that includes the eyes but this little fellow actually has pigment in the eyes," explains Paul. The official term for it is lucistic which means he does have the melanin which causes the colour but it's actually suppressed through some enzymes and in some animals it only affects part of, not all of them.
The interesting thing though is that in marine turtles, this condition is extremely rare. "There was an albino loggerhead turtle in one of the public aquariums many years ago but that's actually since died," says Paul. "We have heard about one or two other albino turtles in the wild." It seems there's a good explanation why. "A white turtle swimming out to sea on a dark ocean is a sitting duck for any seabirds." Which kind of seals its fate for a lifetime of captivity.
"It's pretty much got a safe home here for quite a while," says Paul. "As an adult turtle we could re-consider that option but as a little hatchling the size he is now, he'd be a sitting duck."
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