Barnacles on Hawksbill Sea Turtles,<i>Eretmochelys imbricata</i>, in Hormoz Island, Iran

Loghmani, Mehran; Sadeghi, Parvin

doi:10.1080/09397140.2010.10638388

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…232 individuals) collected from an adult female at Mabul Island, considered a high amount for green turtles (Bugoni et al ., 2001; Hayashi & Tsuji, 2008; Fuller et al ., 2010; Lazo-Wasem et al ., 2011; Nájera-Hillman et al ., 2012; Robinson et al ., 2017). Our results indicate that the number of barnacles attached to green turtles increases with turtle size, and this finding is consistent with Hayashi & Tsuji (2008) and Devin & Sadeghi (2010). The attachment area selected is due to the free space availability (Minchinton & Scheibling, 1993; Ihwan et al ., 2018), thus resulting in a higher abundance of barnacles in larger sea turtles.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…In contrast, barnacles and other commensals use sea turtles primarily as a substratum or foraging platform (Frick et al ., 2002) with minor or equivocal impacts on the turtles' health (Stamper et al ., 2005; Flint et al ., 2010). Depending on the species of barnacle, they fasten onto the carapace and plastron, on the head, or the flippers and skin of their host turtles (Frick & Ross, 2001; Devin & Sadeghi, 2010; Ooi & Palaniappan, 2011; Nájera-Hillman et al ., 2012). There are two types of attachment modes across different life stages of barnacles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Abundance, placement and sexual identity of the epizoic barnacle Chelonibia testudinaria relative to the size and species of host turtles in Mabul Island, Malaysia

2020

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Sea turtles are partners in commensal relationships with a variety of epibionts, including barnacles. The acorn barnacle Chelonibia testudinaria is one species commonly found associated with sea turtles and other marine fauna throughout temperate to tropical waters including the Indo-Pacific. We conducted a study to assess the occurrence of this barnacle, relative to host life stage and species in a mixed foraging population of green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) turtles (juvenile, sub-adult, adults (female and male)) in Mabul Island, Sabah, Malaysia (Celebes Sea). Expecting similar relative abundance by life stage, we found instead a significant effect between the combined dependent variables (abundance and size of barnacles) and the life stages of sea turtles in Mabul after controlling for the covariates of size and species of sea turtles (F(8, 428) = 5.77, P < 0.001, Pillai = 0.19). Among green turtles with barnacles, though adult males had larger barnacles compared with the female turtles, the mean barnacle abundance on adult females (43.4 individuals ± 5.19 SD) was higher than all other life stages. Most of the barnacles (85.6%; N = 1931) were found on the plastron of the sea turtles. The highest number of barnacle reacquisition was found among the juvenile turtles. In assessing the complemental males of the barnacles, we found they were consistently attached to the shells of the larger of the hermaphrodites from each region of the host's body despite average shell-size differences with each region.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance, placement and sexual identity of the epizoic barnacle Chelonibia testudinaria relative to the size and species of host turtles in Mabul Island, Malaysia

2020

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“…The discovery that epibiont loads are higher for olive ridley turtles on the soft tissues, such as the head and tail, relative to the carapace and plastron was somewhat unexpected. Indeed, comparable studies that conducted quantitative assessments of epibiont distributions on both green and hawksbill turtles found the majority of epibiotic barnacles on the carapace and plastron [19,20,21]. Furthermore, it has often been assumed although there is little quantitative data to support it, that for loggerhead turtles the highest quantities of epibionts are found on the carapace (see [33]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tellingly, even some of the most seminal studies investigating the distribution patterns of epibionts on the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta and green turtle Chelonia mydas hosts have focused exclusively on the carapace [8,18]. There are only three studies of which the authors are aware that have compared the abundance of epibionts from over the entire body: Nájera-Hillman et al (2012) [19], Devin and Sadeghi (2010) [20], Razaghian et al (2019) [21]. Interestingly, these studies, which focused on either hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata or green turtles Chelonia mydas , identified that epibiotic barnacles were more common on the carapace and plastron than the soft tissues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial distribution of epibionts on olive ridley sea turtles at Playa Ostional, Costa Rica

et al. 2019

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There is a wealth of published information on the epibiont communities of sea turtles, yet many of these studies have exclusively sampled epibionts found only on the carapace. Considering that epibionts may be found on almost all body-surfaces and that it is highly plausible to expect different regions of the body to host distinct epibiont taxa, there is a need for quantitative information on the spatial variation of epibiont communities on turtles. To achieve this, we measured how total epibiont abundance and biomass on olive ridley turtles Lepidochelys olivacea varies among four body-areas of the hosts (n = 30). We showed that epibiont loads on olive ridleys are higher, both in terms of number and biomass, on the skin than they are on the carapace or plastron. This contrasts with previous findings for other hard-shelled sea turtles, where epibionts are usually more abundant on the carapace or plastron. Moreover, the arguably most ubiquitous epibiont taxon for other hard-shelled sea turtles, the barnacle Chelonibia spp., only occurred in relatively low numbers on olive ridleys and the barnacles Stomatolepas elegans and Platylepas hexastylos are far more abundant. We postulate that these differences between the epibiont communities of different sea turtle taxa could indicate that the carapaces of olive ridley turtles provide a more challenging substratum for epibionts than do the hard shells of other sea turtles. In addition, we conclude that it is important to conduct full body surveys when attempting to produce a holistic qualitative or quantitative characterization of the epibiont communities of sea turtles.

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“…This negative impact on the turtle's health may be due to barnacles causing a significant amount of hydrodynamic drag, requiring the individual to expend more energy while swimming (Frick and Slay, 2000). Nevertheless, the value of barnacle epibiota estimations for assessing general health of sea turtle populations has not been fully explored and it remains controversial (Stamper et al, 2005;Flint et al, 2010), possibly because other factors such as turtle size may also influence the number of barnacles attached to sea turtles (Devin and Sadeghi, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution patterns of the barnacle, Chelonibia testudinaria, on juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Bahia Magdalena, Mexico

Nájera-Hillman¹

2015

Rev.Mex.Biodiv.

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Barnacles on Hawksbill Sea Turtles,Eretmochelys imbricata, in Hormoz Island, Iran

Cited by 11 publications

References 1 publication

Abundance, placement and sexual identity of the epizoic barnacle Chelonibia testudinaria relative to the size and species of host turtles in Mabul Island, Malaysia

Abundance, placement and sexual identity of the epizoic barnacle Chelonibia testudinaria relative to the size and species of host turtles in Mabul Island, Malaysia

Spatial distribution of epibionts on olive ridley sea turtles at Playa Ostional, Costa Rica

Distribution patterns of the barnacle, Chelonibia testudinaria, on juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Bahia Magdalena, Mexico

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