Title: Oceans: Exploring the Hidden Depths of the Underwater World
Author(s): Paul Rose, Anne Laking
Release year: 2009
Publisher: BBC Books
Why in Database: Book accompanying the TV nature series, Oceans. There are several turtle mentions in it, including two photographs.
The first reference is about the negative effects of man-made marine pollution:
The effect has been devastating with many species now threatened with extinction. That includes the monk seal, the loggerhead turtle and even a species of seagrass.
Second fragment is the description of the photo:
The loggerhead turtle (right) and the monk seal (opposite) are two species also at risk from pollution.
Another mention is rather sad, about the “by catch” phenomenon, catching in the net other animals than the ones you want – with a tragic effect for them:
Dolphin and sandbar sharks are now under threat while turtles are frequently damaged or killed.
Next is about the California coast:
Five ow world’s seven species of sea turtle migrate here: leatherback, loggerhead, hawksbill, olive ridley and the Pacific green turtle – also known, rather confusingly, as the ‘black turtle”.
Another is a piece of text directly above the Leatherback Turtle’s photo, information how important they are to the Seri people and how much endangered:
The Seri regard the leatherback turtle as a sacred embodiment of their ancestors. Traditionally, if one was inadvertenly captured they held a four-day ceremony to protect it, building a shelter, painting powerfull motifs on its back, and singing and dancing. One ceremony took place in 2005, but no others had occured for about 20 years, because leatherback turtles are now rarely found in the northern Sea of Cortez – they are one of the world’s most endangered marine turtles.
The next one, next to the above text, is the description of the photo:
The leatherback turtle, regarded by the Sari as a sacred embodiment of their ancetors, is one of the world’s most endangered species of marine turtle.
The last one is a record of the feelings of a diver visiting a coral reef that is full of life:
The Reef was animated – soft corals swaying to the current and ocean’s surce, clown fish darting in and out of thei save anemone haven, beatiful but poisonous lionfish drifting pasat me in the current, the sounds of parrotfish crunching at the hard corals, schools of brigtly coloured jacks flying past, the silhouettes of turtles above me, all contributing to that wonderful feeling of line on a healthy tropical reef.
Author: XYuriTT