Kemp's Atlantic Ridley: Gray Heartlike Upper-Shell, White Lower-Shell

Summary: North American Kemp's Atlantic ridley habitats get heart-shaped, keeled, wide gray upper-shells, paddle-shaped limbs and white lower-shells.

"An oiled Kemp's Ridley sea turtle photographed during a boat-based survey by NOAA to collect oiled sea turtles during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response." Gulf of Mexico; Nov. 30, 2000: Kate Sampson/NOAA, Public Domain, via USGS (U.S. Geological Survey)

North American Kemp's Atlantic ridley habitats accord with coastal shallow water distribution ranges along the Gulf of Mexico and, during summers, northward along the Atlantic coastal United States to Nova Scotia, Canada

Kemp's Atlantic ridleys bear their common name for biogeography and for Richard Moore Kemp (Jan. 25, 1825-Feb. 8, 1908), furniture dealer, merchant, naturalist and specimen discoverer. The scientific name Lepidochelys kempii combines the Greek words λεπῐ́δος (lepídos, "of scale") and χέλῡς (khélūs, "tortoise") and commemorates the Florida Key West specimen's 19th-century discoverer. Descriptions in 1880 by Samuel Walton Garman (June 5, 1843-Sept. 30, 1927), bird and reptile collection assistant director at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, decide taxonomies.

Kemp's Atlantic ridley life cycles expect coastal shallow waters with depths no greater than 160 feet (48.77 meters) above muddy or sandy bottoms and nesting beaches.

April through July fill Kemp's Atlantic ridley life cycles with breeding and nesting seasons that warm month- and warm water-favoring Chelonidae sea turtle family members feature.

Kemp's Atlantic ridleys get around by employing clawed paddlelike limbs over coral reefs, rocky bottoms and sandy shores and by floating, large seaweed mats over water. Aquatic and coastal lifestyles herald traumatic stress when Kemp's Atlantic ridleys happen into shrimp nets, near land-located lighting or water-reflected lights or onto turtle product hunters. Human interference for eggs, flesh, oils, shells, trophy parts and turkey soup calipees and introduced species incline otherwise balanced food chains and food webs toward irreplaceability.

Collectors, off-shore drillers, estuarine crocodiles, ghost crabs, groupers, gulls, octopuses, raccoons, rats, requiem sharks and tiger sharks and polluters jeopardize North American Kemp's Atlantic ridley habitats.

Kemp's Atlantic ridley sea turtles keep to coastal shallow waters during mating seasons because Atlantic and Gulf coastlines know nesting-friendly beaches from Mexico through Nova Scotia.

Females lay about 110 leathery-shelled, spherical eggs 1.5 inches (38.1 millimeters) in diameter two to three times per nestting season along short stretches of Tamaulipas beach. Hatchlings 8 to 11 weeks later must maneuver through multi-layered sand to move over open, sandy stretches into coastal waters and onto floating, large seaweed mats. Algae, comb jellies, crustaceans, fish, jellyfish, molluscs, Portuguese man-of-wars, sea anemones, grasses, sponges and urchins, shrimp and squids nourish omnivorous (everything-eating) Kemp's Atlantic ridley sea turtles.

North American Kemp's Atlantic ridley habitats offer season-coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 15 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26.11 to minus 1.66 degrees Celsius).

Continental shelves, hard-bottomed subtropical, temperate and tropical waters no deeper than 60 feet (18.28 meters), sea island lagoons, sponge-rich reefs and shoals promote Kemp's Atlantic ridleys.

Twenty-three and one-half to 29.5 inches (59.69 to 74.93 centimeters) queue up as total head-body lengths for physically and sexually mature Kemp's Atlantic ridley sea turtles. Adults reveal heart-shaped, keeled, wide gray upper-shells with five costal scutes, four pored bridge scutes, paddle-like limbs, white lower-shells and two-paired prefrontal scales between both eyes. Males, like their hawksbill masculine counterparts, showcase tails sticking well beyond shell margins while young Kemp's Atlantic ridley sea turtles sport three-ridged upper-shells and four-ridged lower-shells.

North American Kemp's Atlantic ridley habitats temper heart-shaped, keeled, wide gray upper-shells with five costal scutes, four-paired bridge scutes, paddle-shaped limbs, white lower-shells and scale-tethered eyes.

Kemp's Ridley Turtle is one of five posters spotlighting Florida's five native sea turtle species (green, hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, leatherback, loggerhead); Florida's Sea Turtle Specialty License Program funded The Florida Sea Turtle Life History Posters; sea turtle artwork by Dawn Witherington: ProjectSeaTurtleConservancy @conserveturtles via Facebook April 15, 2014

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

"An oiled Kemp's Ridley sea turtle photographed during a boat-based survey by NOAA to collect oiled sea turtles during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response." Gulf of Mexico; Nov. 30, 2000: Kate Sampson/NOAA, Public Domain, via USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) @ https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/oiled-kemps-ridley-sea-turtle-after-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill

Kemp's Ridley Turtle is one of five posters spotlighting Florida's five native sea turtle species (green, hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, leatherback, loggerhead); Florida's Sea Turtle Specialty License Program funded The Florida Sea Turtle Life History Posters; sea turtle artwork by Dawn Witherington: ProjectSeaTurtleConservancy @conserveturtles via Facebook April 15, 2014, @ https://twitter.com/conserveturtles/status/456138271735549952

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. "Atlantic Ridley Lepidochelys kempii." Herps of NC > Amphibians and Reptiles of North Carolina > Turtles.
Available @ https://herpsofnc.org/atlantic-ridley/

Garman, Samuel. 1880. "On Certain Species of Chelonioidæ: Thalassochelys Kempii sp. nov." Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, in Cambridge, vol. VI, part I, no. 6: 123-124. Cambridge MA: University Press: John Wilson and Son.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31068798

Iverson, John B., Ph.D. 2003. "Kemp's ridley turtle Lepidochelys kempii." Page 91. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 7, Reptiles, edited by Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy, and Neil Schlager. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group.

"Richard Moore Kemp." FindAGrave.com > Memorials.
Available @ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33617281/richard-moore-kemp

SeaTurtleConservancy @conserveturtles. ‏ 15 April 2014. "We're handing out Kemp's ridley educational posters for FREE at the International Sea Turtle Symposium now! #ISTS2014." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/conserveturtles/status/456138271735549952

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Uetz, Peter. "Sternotherus minor (Agassiz, 1857)." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Sternotherus&species=minor&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27sternotherus+minor%27%29%29