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08-22-2009, 07:39 PM
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Inside of Leatherback Turtle Mouth: Port Macquarie Stranding
A dead male leatherback turtle about 2 meters long washed ashore at Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie, Australia. The animal was estimated to weigh 250 to 300 kilograms and had apparently been dead for about a week. National Parks and Wildlife Service supervisor Earl Winter said decomposition had damaged the tissue too badly for a useful necropsy. No cause of death was established, although ingestion of plastic bags was considered a possibility. The backward-pointing structures lining the turtle's mouth and throat are keratinized oesophageal papillae, not teeth. Leatherback turtles use them to grip slippery prey such as jellyfish, expel swallowed seawater and guide food toward the stomach. Their shape can also prevent swallowed plastic from being expelled. |