Leatherback Turtles

[nightshade]

I watched an old episode of the BBC series Coast last night and it featured a Leatherback Turtle that had washed ashore near Harlech
It was 9 feet long nose to tail and 9feet from flipper to flipper weighing in at around 100ST!
The startling thing is that they are not lost,but actually live around Britain and Ireland eating jelly-fish these 6foot reptiles do an annual migration from
around the Cape verde islands.
http://www.turtle.ie/ is a site tracking an Irish tagged Leatherback

[pheonix]

crikey! surely that counts as a sea monster!

[scholesy]

It was thought that any Leatherbacks seen around the British and Irish coasts were sick individuals that got carried here by the Gulf Stream. They do migrate to the northeast Atlantic during summer to feed.

I think that unlike other reptiles they have the ability to generate body heat and this means they can be active in colder seas.

Unfortunately most records of Leatherbacks are of individuals washed up on beaches or killed by trawlers.

What a fantastic sight a live one in the sea would be.