https://doi.org/10.82144/f654955a https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/483 https://www.gbif.org/dataset/aadd4f01-b9dd-4b7a-9389-0e9f36f9ccdf https://obis.org/dataset/15a472fb-485d-4b1a-b79a-794975dbef60 Shigetomo Hirama Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Primary contact Tomo.Hirama@MyFWC.com Robert Hardy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Secondary contact Robert.Hardy@MyFWC.com Blair Witherington Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Secondary contact unknown@dummy.com OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

A328 LSRC building Durham NC 27708 US

seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

A328 LSRC building Durham NC 27708 US

seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu distributor Shigetomo Hirama Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Primary contact Tomo.Hirama@MyFWC.com owner Robert Hardy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Secondary contact Robert.Hardy@MyFWC.com originator Blair Witherington Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Secondary contact unknown@dummy.com originator 2025-07-31 eng Original provider: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Marine Turtle Research Program Dataset credits: Blair Witherington, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Robert Hardy, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Abstract: These data describe observations of subadult and adult sea turtles that were observed by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) staff ancillary to a study of the ecology of neonate sea turtles inhabiting epipelagic drift communities of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Animals were observed by researchers aboard an 8.2 m power catamaran vessel launched from four ports along the west coast of Florida (Pensacola, Apalachicola, Sarasota, and Marco Island), United States. Researchers observed aggregations of loggerheads in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, off Florida's west coast, during twelve sampling trips in August 2005, June 2006, July 2008 and August 2008. Observations of juvenile, subadult and adult loggerheads are rare in this study and considered ancillary as the effort targets posthatchling (> 10 cm straight carapace length) sea turtles inhabiting lines of floating pelagic debris and Sargassum. Loggerhead turtle sizes included three groupings: Adult (> 90 cm SCL), Subadult (45-90 cm SCL), and Juvenile (< 45 cm SCL). During this time 78 loggerheads (<i>Caretta caretta</i>), 1 Kemp's ridley (<i>Lepidochelys kempii</i>), and 2 unidentified turtles were observed. Sea turtle observations were made by two experienced observers who kept watch for sargassum habitat (for neonate studies) and large turtles (to avoid collisions). Vessel paths fanned out from each port to depths up to 300 m, with a mean path approximately perpendicular to the coastline. Occurrence GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type.xml Observation GBIF Dataset Subtype Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_subtype.xml Marine Biology Visual sighting Vessels Sightings biology threatened and endangered (turtles whales manatees sturgeon) turtles GIS N/A Prior to July 1, 2004, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) was known as the Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI). The institute name has not been changed in historical data sets or references to work completed by the Florida Marine Research Institute. The institute name has been changed in references to ongoing research, new research, and contact information. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License. https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/483 Oceans,Florida,Gulf of Mexico -96.54013 -79.58056 30.3394 24.3179 1992-08-02 2014-08-08 Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). species Caretta caretta Loggerhead sea turtle species Chelonia mydas Green sea turtle family Cheloniidae Sea turtles species Dermochelys coriacea Leatherback sea turtle species Eretmochelys imbricata Hawksbill sea turtle These data describe the geographic positions of juvenile, subadult, and adult sea turtle observations which were made ancillary to a long-term study of the ecology of neonate sea turtles inhabiting epipelagic drift communities of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Attributes describe the date of observation, species, age class, latitude, longitude, the distance from transect to observation, and city of the port of departure. asNeeded Shigetomo Hirama Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Primary contact Tomo.Hirama@MyFWC.com NA NA NA Shigetomo Hirama owner Robert Hardy originator Blair Witherington originator NA zd_483 2025-07-31T14:18:00-04:00 dataset Hirama, S., B. Witherington and R. Hardy. 2017. FWRI EPDC NonNeonate SeaTurtle Observations. Version 1.0.0. Dataset published in OBIS-SEAMAP. https://doi.org/10.82144/f654955a. OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page UTF-8 Interactive map https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/483 FGDC Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/483/fgdc EML Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/483/eml OBIS-SEAMAP zd_483 zd_483