FIRST EVIDENCE OF MIGRATION BY LOGGERHEAD SEA TURTLES, CARETTA CARETTA, FROM THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN TO NORTH AMERICA

Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) frequent very distant areas during their life stages, and information about migratory routes and geographical range is key for planning their conservation. Here we report on the first direct evidence of a loggerhead turtle migrating from the eastern Mediterranean to the North American coast. A juvenile of 57.1 cm curved carapace length was tagged and released from Lampedusa Island, Italy, in 2008 and found dead on the Massachusetts coast in 2012. Its size and first location fit with the current knowledge about Atlantic loggerheads entering the Mediterranean and this finding supports the hypothesis of homing behavior as the explanation for the low genetic flow estimated between the Atlantic and Mediterranean populations.