Abstract

The green turtle, Chelonia mydas, is an endangered marine chelonian with a circum-global distribution. Reference blood parameter intervals have been published for some chelonian species, but baseline hematology, biochemical, and blood gas values are lacking from the Galapagos sea turtles. Analyses were done on blood samples drawn from 28 green turtles captured in two foraging locations on San Cristóbal Island (14 from each site). Of these turtles, 20 were immature and of unknown sex; the other eight were males (five mature, three immature). A portable blood analyzer (iSTAT) was used to obtain near immediate field results for pH, lactate, pO2, pCO2, HCO3 −, Hct, Hb, Na, K, iCa, and Glu. Parameter values affected by temperature were corrected in two ways: (1) with standard formulas; and (2) with auto-corrections made by the iSTAT. The two methods yielded clinically equivalent results. Standard laboratory hematology techniques were employed for the red and white blood cell counts and the hematocrit determination, which was also compared to the hematocrit values generated by the iSTAT. Of all blood analytes, only lactate concentrations were positively correlated with body size. All other values showed no significant difference between the two sample locations nor were they correlated with body size or internal temperature. For hematocrit count, the iSTAT blood analyzer yielded results indistinguishable from those obtained with high-speed centrifugation. The values reported in this study provide baseline data that may be useful in comparisons among populations and in detecting changes in health status among Galapagos sea turtles. The findings might also be helpful in future efforts to demonstrate associations between specific biochemical parameters and disease.

Highlights

  • The green turtle (Chelonia mydas), known as the black turtle in the Pacific Ocean, is a marine chelonian inhabiting oceans throughout the world [57]

  • A recent review summarizes the health of wild sea turtles and methods of assessment, including blood parameters [20]

  • The present study evaluates selected blood gas, blood biochemical, and hematology parameters from 28 wild-caught green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in two coastal foraging areas adjacent to San Cristobal Island, Galapagos, Ecuador

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Summary

Introduction

The green turtle (Chelonia mydas), known as the black turtle in the Pacific Ocean, is a marine chelonian inhabiting oceans throughout the world [57]. Health assessments of green turtles may have implications for wildlife biology and species conservation. Considerable research on natural history has been performed in this species and studies on the health parameters of green turtles, while still relatively limited, have increased dramatically in the last 5 years [1,4,5,8,17,18,22,27,30, 31,39,40,45,50]. A recent review summarizes the health of wild sea turtles and methods of assessment, including blood parameters [20]

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