North American Spiny Softshell Turtle Habitats Are Sandy Freshwaters

Summary: North American spiny softshell turtle habitats are sandy freshwaters of clean, sand-bank, sand-bottom, slow lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and tributaries.

Eastern spiny softshell (Trionyx spiniferus spiniferus); photo by J.D. Taylor/WWF-Canada: WWF-Canada @WWFCanada, via Facebook July 15, 2014

North American spiny softshell turtle habitats are sandy freshwaters of clean, sand-bank, sand-bottom, slow-flowing lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and tributaries whose aquatic ambiances assure high visibility, slow water velocity and some vegetation.

Spiny softshells bear their common name for thornless, spine-borne upper-shells and the subspecies names black, Guadalupe, Gulf Coast, northern, pallid and Texas soft spiny softshell turtles. Above-mentioned common names respectively correlate taxonomically with Apalone spinifera atra, A. s. guadalupensis, A. s. aspera, A. s. spinifera, A. s. pallida and A. s. emoryi. Drs. John Marshall Legler (Sep. 9, 1930-March 28, 2014) and Robert Gravem Webb (Feb. 18, 1927-Sep. 18, 2018) scientifically described black spiny softshell turtles in 1960.

Dr. Webb scientifically examined Guadalupe and pallid subspecies in 1962, 105 years after Louis Agassiz (May 28, 1807-Dec. 14, 1873) examined Gulf Coast and Texas subspecies.

Charles Alexandre Lesueur (Jan. 1, 1778-Dec. 12, 1846) furnished nominate species, subsequent eastern and northern subspecies findings 30 and 135 years before Drs. Agassiz and Webb.

Black, Guadalupe, Gulf Coast, northern, pallid and Texas spiny softshells get around by swimming, oftentimes submerged by breathing through snorkel-like snouts and on three-clawed web-footed flippers. The Testudines (from Latin testūdō, “turtle” and Greek -ηνός via Latin –īnus, “of”) order’s Trionychidae family member has leathery tubercle-housing, spine-edged shells with long, thick tails. Beaked, sharp, strong jaws of long-necked, tubular-snouted trionychids (from Greek τρίᾰ [“three”], ὄνυξ [“claw, hoof, nail, talon”] and -ειδής [“-like”] via Latin -idæ) likewise intimidate intruders.

Foxes, herons, large fish, raccoons and skunks jeopardize egg, hatchling and juvenile journeys in North American spiny softshell turtle habitats jeopardized by human collectors and polluters.

Fifty-year lifespans know breeding-season months every April through October for four-, four-plus-year-old males and 12-, 12-plus-year-old females with respectively 5-plus-inch- (12.7-plus-centimeter-) and 7-plus-inch- (17.78-plus-centimeter-) long shells.

Flask-shaped, 4- to 10-inch- (10- to 25-centimeter-) deep, sun-warmed cavities in gravelly or sandy banks lodge each mother-to-be’s annual one to three 4- to 38-egg clutches. Late-summer hatchlings of brittle, June- and July-laid, 0.9- to 1.1-inch (22- to 28-millimeter) diameter, spherical eggs maximally incubated 90 days migrate in autumn to underwater hibernations. All ages need dead and living algae; beetles; caddisflies; crayfish; crickets; damselflies, dragonflies; fish eggs; mayflies; mussels; shrimp; small birds, fishes, frogs, snakes; snails; and worms.

North American spiny softshell turtle habitats offer season-coldest temperature ranges from northernmost minus 50 to southernmost 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 46 to minus 1 degrees Celsius).

Coahuila, Mexico, and Quebec, Canada, respectively possess black and northern Apalone spinifera (from Greek απο, “ex-” and ἁπᾰλός, “soft” and Latin spīna, “thorn” and -fer, “carrying”).

Five- to 9.25-inch (12.7- to 23.5-centimeter) and 6.5- to 18-inch (16.5 - to 45.7-centimeter) total lengths respectively queue for female and male brown, olive, tan upper-shells. Guadalupe, pallid and Texas spiny softshells reveal small white tubercles respectively with black-ringed surrounds on upper-shell rear halves and, with pale-rimmed margins, on the back third. Eastern, Gulf Coast and western spiny softshell turtles respectively show black-bordered upper-shell eyespots and dark-lined rims, dark-lined upper-shell rears and small-dotted upper-shell eyespots and dark-lined rims.

Environmental polluters and species collectors most threaten North American spiny softshell turtle habitats, whose pollution thwarts all ages taking dissolved oxygen through throat skin and lining.

male Gulf Coast spiny softshell turtle (Trionyx spiniferus asperus): Discovery Place Nature @DiscoveryPlaceNature, via Facebook Nov. 18, 2014

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Eastern spiny softshell turtle (Trionyx spiniferus); photo by J.D. Taylor/WWF-Canada: WWF-Canada @WWFCanada, via Facebook July 15, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/WWFCanada/photos/a.161248485718.146875.159713615718/10152623303165719/

This male Gulf Coast spiny softshell turtle (Trionyx spiniferus asperus), described as  "one of our shyest residents," resides in Discovery Place Nature (formerly Charlotte Nature Museum), Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, southwestern North Carolina: Discovery Place Nature @DiscoveryPlaceNature, via Facebook Nov. 18, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1526228070950310

For further information:

Aardema, J.; S. Beam; J. Boner; J. Bussone; C. Ewart; I. Kaplan; K. Kiefer; S. Lindsay; E. Merrill; W. Moretz; J. Roberts; E. Rockwell; M. Reott; J. Willson; A. Pickens; W. Guthrie; A. Young; Y. Kornilev; W. Anderson; G. Connette; E. Eskew; E. Teague; M. Thomas; and A. Tutterow. "Spiny Softshell Apalone spinifera." Herps of NC > Amphibians and Reptiles of North Carolina > Turtles.
Available @ https://herpsofnc.org/spiny-softshell/

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Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12852743

Agassiz, Louis. 1857. "Aspidonectes emoryi, Ag." Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Vol. I, Part II, Chapter III: 407-408. Boston MA: Little, Brown and Company; London, England: Trübner & Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12852745

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Available @ https://twitter.com/DPNature/status/477184066345660416

Discovery Place Nature @DiscoveryPlaceNature. 18 November 2014. "The Gulf Coast spiny softshell turtle breathes air underwater, using their pointed snout and long neck as a snorkel. They can also absorb dissolved oxygen in the water through their skin, allowing them to remain underwater for up to five hours! Learn more about this freshwater creature tomorrow at 12:30 p.m." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1526228070950310

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WWF-Canada @ WWFCanada. 15 July 2014. "It's #TurtleTuesday! Did you know...Softshell turtles have a leathery, flexible carapace instead of a bony one. The Eastern Spiny Softshell turtle is the only species of softshell turtle in Canada, and is only found in a few very small isolated populations in Ontario and Quebec." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/WWFCanada/photos/a.161248485718.146875.159713615718/10152623303165719/