Meet Flame Lily — a hybrid sea turtle!
Each year, SCCF sea turtle staff encounter about 160 unique individual turtles at night during their field season — and some of them really make an impression.
When the team first encountered a turtle named Flame Lily (identified by her tags) last summer, they were struck by her narrow and pointed beak, resembling more of a hawksbill sea turtle, rather than a loggerhead.
“Later in the season we received a hotline report of a turtle nesting during the day, and it happened to be Flame Lily. This rare daytime encounter provided a clear look at this turtle and heightened our suspicions that she might be a hybrid,” said Kelly Sloan, coastal wildlife director and sea turtle program coordinator.
Biologists sent samples to Dr. Brian Shamblin at the University of Georgia for genetic testing, and he recently returned with news that the results show that Flame Lily is in fact half hawksbill, half loggerhead.
“Further testing is needed to learn which parent is the hawksbill, but in most similar cases, the hawksbill is the male,” Kelly said.
Hawksbills are one of five sea turtle species found in Florida’s waters, but are rarely ever seen nesting on Sanibel’s beaches. Kelly explained that because loggerhead sea turtles tend to nest earlier than hawksbill sea turtles, it’s possible that hawksbill males find only loggerhead females when they arrive to courtship areas.
Hybrid hawksbill/loggerhead sea turtles typically have successful clutches, and Flame Lily’s nest last year produced 104 hatchlings.
For more information, click here!
