FISHERIES OF KEY WEST. 53 



extent in tlie small fishing villages, and it is not infrequently found 

 in the markets of certain large cities. 



Two methods are employed in catching both the green and the 

 loggerhead turtle in the vicinity of Key West — netting and pegging. 

 There are well recognized localities that turtles are known to fre- 

 quent in search of food, and it is at these places that the turtle 

 iishermen look for them. The senses of smell and taste appear to 

 be Avell developed, and they will travel long distances in search of 

 their favoiite food and feeding grounds. 



In netting turtles a large-meshed net is used, and when one or more 

 turtles are discovered in one locality' the net is set in a straight line 

 at a favorable place to intercept their progress. As all turtles must 

 rise to the surface for air at more or less frequent intervals they are 

 Aery liable to be seen in smooth water, and on calm days they can be 

 located several hundred feet away by the sound made when they 

 forcibly exhale air at the surface. While a turtle can not gill itself 

 as fish do, the net nevertheless acts very much in the manner of a 

 gill net. Upon striking the net the turtle usually becomes entangled 

 in the meshes by its head and flippers, and after a futile struggle it 

 rises to the surface where the fishermen are ready to haul it aboard 

 their dory. Some of the turtles, of course, avoid the net, and others 

 that strike it fail to become entangled, but a large percentage of 

 those that strike the meshes are captured. 



Pegging turtles is somewhat similar to spearing swordfish. A 

 small sharp barbed spear, to which a line is attached, is fitted loosely 

 on a staff, and upon approaching within a suitable distance of the 

 turtle the spear is plunged into its back. The spearhead usually sep- 

 arates from the staff when it becomes embedded in the back of the 

 turtle, and the animal is held by the line. If the spear is firmly 

 embedded, the capture of the animal in a short time is assured. 

 Fishermen living in isolated places and who desire turtles for food 

 usually employ this method. 



In the West Indies and off Central America the greater part of 

 the catch is made during the egg-laying period in the spring, when 

 the turtles are captured on sandy beaches upon which the females 

 have emerged for the purpose of laying their eggs. The marine 

 turtles are poorly equipped for travel on land, and their movements 

 are slow and laborious. For this reason if carefully approached they 

 are easily captured, and by being placed on their backs they are ren- 

 dered helpless to escape. 



The hawksbill turtle is found in the Gulf of Mexico and in the 

 AVest Indies southward to Brazil. This species is easily recognized 

 by its small size and hard, imbricated shields, of which there are 13 

 large ones normally surrounded by 24 marginal plates. The carapace 

 shields overlap each other like shingles on a roof, differing in this 

 respect from the green and loggerhead turtles whose shields are 

 smooth. The fore and hind flippers each have two nails, and the 

 horny covers of the jaws form a sharp hooked beak, from which the 

 name " hawks})ill '' is derived. The carapace of the adult is beauti- 

 fully mottled wnth yellow on a dark brown background. The tor-' 

 toise shell of commerce is, obtained from the carapace of this turtle. 

 The shields can be fused by pressure and heat to fonn pieces of any 

 desired size. 



