Marine turtles and their barnacles from Scottish waters and adjacent seas

Abstract

The history of marine turtles in Scottish waters and adjacent seas is reviewed. The recording and reporting schemes for stranded marine animals in Scotland and the U.K. are highlighted. Detailed descriptions are provided of strandings of a loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) at Irvine, Ayrshire in December 2015, with numerous attached goose barnacles (Lepas anatifera) and a leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) at St. Cyrus, Aberdeenshire in January 2016, with several acorn barnacles (Stomatolepas dermochelys). A review of U.K. marine animal strandings reports revealed additional records of L. anatifera and L. hillii, from stranded loggerheads in Carmarthenshire in 2006 and in Cornwall in 2016 respectively, as well as another leatherback with S. dermochelys in Cornwall in 2018. The occurrence of lepadomorph and balanomorph barnacles on turtles is discussed including historical records from the U.K. and Ireland, and adjacent waters in the Mediterranean and the north-east Atlantic. Taxonomic confusion within the genus Stomatolepas is clarified. Other species of barnacle that might occur on turtles reaching the waters of the U.K. and Ireland in the future are discussed along with other exotic fauna that can accompany turtles. The impact of barnacles on turtles and how turtles remove attached epibionts is summarised.