Records of Leatherback Turtles, Dermochelys 
coriacea (Linnaeus), and Other Marine Turtles in 
North Carolina Waters 
Davids. Lee and William M. Palmer 
North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, 
P.O. Box 27647, Raleigh, North Carolina 2761 1 
ABSTRACT. — New information is presented on the occurrence of five 
species of marine turtles in North Carolina waters. Dermochelys coria- 
cea and Caretta carettd, the two most commonly occurring species, are 
emphasized. Thirty-three unpublished records of Dermochelys for 
North Carolina, and information from other sources, indicate that in 
North Carolina at least, this turtle typically occurs throughout the 
warmer months in relatively shallow shelf waters. It may not be an 
open-ocean wanderer. 
Information on seasonal distributions of marine turtles in North Caro- 
lina’s offshore waters is fragmentary. Since 1975, one of us (DSL) has 
been regularly surveying seabirds in this area (Lee and Booth 1979) and 
making incidental observations of marine turtles. These records, com- 
bined with others in the files of the North Carolina State Museum of 
Natural History (NCSM), contribute considerably to our knowledge of 
sea turtle occurrences off the coast of the state. All five species known 
from the Atlantic have been encountered. 
Nearly all of the 85 offshore trips departed either from Oregon Inlet or 
Hatteras Inlet, Dare County, North Carolina. Each daylong outing (ca. 
10-1 1 hours) typically followed predesignated transects of 20 to 50 miles 
(32 to 80 km) from the point of departure and into the Gulf Stream. Data 
accompanying sightings are, unfortunately, not uniform because of (1) 
lack of LORAN equipment on some charter boats, (2) abbreviated record 
keeping necessitated by conditions at sea, and (3) concentration of pri- 
mary field effort on seabirds, which sometimes made it impossible to 
record maximum data on turtles. Furthermore, surveys of marine turtles 
from boats are difficult, since surface conditions and angle of view nor- 
mally provide a narrow corridor of visibility. Variability of surface condi- 
tions from one trip to the next makes comparisons of trip-by-trip 
numbers observed meaningless. The difference in numbers of turtles seen 
from boats and numbers observed in aerial surveys, to be discussed later, 
is striking. 
Information from NCSM files was compiled from numerous inde- 
pendent records accumulated during the past 20 years. Units of meas- 
urements used here are, for the most part, expressed as originally 
reported to us; few have been converted to metric units. 
Brimleyana No. 5:95-106. July 1981. 
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