S.C. Aquarium releases 6 Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles

The South Carolina Aquarium proudly released 6 Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles this morning!

August 20, 2024 Folly Beach: The South Carolina Aquarium proudly released six Kemp’s ridley seaturtles at Folly Beach County Park.

These six turtles were all caught on hook and line and after hookremoval, spent time in the Sea Turtle Care Center™ recovering and gaining strength before heading backout to the “big blue”!

This robust release included sea turtles that originated from all along the SouthCarolina coast, from the Grand Strand down to the Lowcountry

All are Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, the most endangered sea turtle species in the world-All were admitted after being hooked by fisherman-All are adorably named after breakfast items.

6 Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles released

– All are Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, the most endangered sea turtle species in the world

– All were admitted after being hooked by fisherman

– All are adorably named after breakfast items

• Species: Crepe – Kemp’s ridley Stranding Location: North Myrtle Beach,SC

Reason for Admit:Hooked and entangled in fishing line

Additional Details: Though the hook easily fell out after Crepe was reeled in, there was a decent amount of monofilament fishing line entangled around this little sea turtle.

This was a “close call”; if we didn’t have the opportunity to remove the entangled linearound Crepe, this could have led to severe damage over time as Crepe continued to grow

Crepe was a short-stay patient, but Crepe’s arrival gave us the opportunity to shelter this little Kemp’s from tropical storm Debby.

• Species: Flapjack – Kemp’s ridley

Stranding Location:North Myrtle Beach,SC

Reason for Admit: Hooked bya fishermanin esophagus

• Species: Butter – Kemp’s ridley

Stranding Location:North Myrtle Beach,SC

Reason for Admit:Hooked in esophagus

Additional Details: Butter had older fullyhealed wounds on flippers, likely from a predator attack

• Species: Babka – Kemp’s ridley

Stranding Location:Hilton Head Island, SC

Reason for Admit: Hooked by a fisherman, very large hook in espohagus

• Species: Mojo – Kemp’s ridley

Stranding Location:Mount Pleasant, SC

Reason for Admit:Caught on a J-hook very deep in esophagu