HM 07/09/2023 at 16:23, Updated on 07/09/2023 at 16:25
A huge leatherback turtle was seen off Sète in the Hérault on Monday September 4. This rare event has delighted tourists who have encountered the animal during a fishing trip.
Unusual encounter 8 kilometers from the Sète coast. A huge leatherback turtle was seen off the town of Sète (Hérault) this Monday, September 4. This extremely rare event was filmed by tourists during their fishing trip, reports this Thursday, September 7 France 3 Occitania.
According to our colleagues, the leatherback turtle was swimming last Monday in the Mediterranean four or five nautical miles off Sète when these tourists came face to face with the animal. The leatherback turtle is the largest of the current seven species of sea turtle, the largest turtle overall, and the fourth largest reptile after three crocodilians.
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Rare presence in the northern Mediterranean
It is also called the leather-backed turtle because it does not have keratinized scales on its shell but a rigid, leather-like skin over dermal bones. It can weigh up to 700 kilos in adulthood and measure from 1m50 to 2m20 long.
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The event is all the more exceptional, as leatherback turtles are rare in the northern Mediterranean. They usually enter via warm ocean currents through the Strait of Gibraltar. Probably from the coasts of Africa and the Caribbean. They are just passing through. It is a migratory animal that travels and locates itself thanks to magnetic fields.
2023-09-07 14:33:13
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