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T. H. Fritts

Publications and source records attributed to T. H. Fritts.

63 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS1982

Sea turtle distribution along the boundary of the Gulf Stream current off eastern Florida

Aerial surveys, out to 222 km off the east coast of central Florida during August 1980, revealed that marine turtles were distributed in a narrow zone west of the Gulf Stream. Of 255 loggerhead turtles, Caretta caretta, only three were observed east of the western boundary of the Gulf Stream. Radiometric thermometry revealed that the waters occupied by most Caretta were markedly cooler than the nearby waters of the Gulf Stream. Of 18 leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, all were seen west of the Gulf Stream in waters less than 70 m in depth. Marine turtles off eastern Florida are confined seasonally to nearshore waters west of the Gulf Stream. The records of Dermochelys in nearshore waters are in contrast with a deep water oceanic ecology often hypothesized for this species.

Herpetologica↗
USGS1981

Marine turtles of the Galapagos Islands and adjacent areas of the eastern Pacific on the basis of observations made by J.R. Slevin 1905-1906

The field notes of J. R. Slevin written during the expedition of the California Academy of Sciences to the Galapagos Islands in 1905-1096 contain previously unavailable data on the marine turtles of the eastern Pacific. 'Land basking' by green turtles in Galapagos was predominately, if not exclusively, a female behavior. These terrestrial emergences were not concentrated in the major reproductive season of Galapagos turtles. Female Chelonia were also collected on shore during daylight hours on Socorro Island southwest of Baja California, Mexico. Chelonia, green turtles, were observed to feed on seaweed, the leaves and shoots of mangrove trees, and the leaves of another unidentified shoreline shrub. Comparative data on the gonads of dark and yellow turtles indicated that the latter did not breed in Galapagos during Slevin's stay. Lepidochelys olivacea, the olive ridley, was recorded in Galapagos waters and fed on fish eggs

Journal of Herpetology↗