Schmid: Marine turtle populations of the east-central coast of Florida 



143 



(A 



120 

 110 - 

 100 

 90 



5 80 



H 



O 70 

 a 



9 60 H 



50 



40 - 

 30 

 20 

 10 - 



x = 67.7 cm 

 n = 769 



pi 



. r_.ri-^-.. . 



40 50 60 70 



Carapace Length (cm) 



Figure 2 



Length frequencies of loggerhead turtles, Caretta caretta, collected along 

 the Atlantic coast of Florida from 1986 to 1991. 



within the Cape Canaveral study area were subse- 

 quently recaptured within this area. Of this total, 

 eleven turtles (9 subadults and 2 adults) were cap- 

 tured and recaptured in the Port Canaveral ship 

 channel. Eight loggerhead turtles captured in the 

 Cape Canaveral area during the winter were recap- 

 tured or recovered in Georgia, North Carolina, and 

 Virginia during the summer and fall (Fig. 4). All these 

 turtles were subadults ranging from 51 to 61 cm cara- 

 pace length. Three tagged loggerhead turtles (two sub- 

 adults and a nesting female) were reported south of 

 Cape Canaveral by fishery-independent sources. 



There was a stronger correlation between carapace 

 width and carapace length for subadult loggerhead 



turtles (r=0.9612; n=508) than for adults (r=0.7724; 

 7i=151). Regression equations were computed for the 

 relationship of carapace width (CW) to length (SSCL) 

 for subadults: 



CW = 9.0289 + 0.6848 (SSCL); 



and adults 



CW = 22.9153 + 0.5052 (SSCL). 



Fifty-one yearly growth rates were calculated for 

 forty-nine loggerhead turtles. Extrapolating annual 

 growth rates from these data is difficult owing to the 



