Natural Environment Blog

A newly discovered turtle species has provided scientists with a missing link between the terrestrial turtles from the Triassic period to the modern day aquatic turtles.

The discovery provides scientists with proof that aquatic turtles were roaming the earth at least 164 million years ago.

The new species, called Eileanchelys waldmani, was discovered after six fossils were found embedded in a rock on the Scottish Island of Skye.

“Although the majority of modern turtles are aquatic forms, it has been convincingly demonstrated that the most primitive turtles from the Triassic, about 210m years ago, were exclusively terrestrial.” said Jérémy Anquetin of the department of palaeontology at London’s Natural History Museum.

“Until the discovery of Eileanchelys, we thought that adaptation to an aquatic habitat might have appeared among primitive turtles but we had no fossil evidence of that.”

“Now we know for sure that there were aquatic turtles around 164m years ago. This discovery also demonstrates that turtles were more ecologically diverse early in their history than had been suspected before.”

The ancient turtle (Eileanchelys waldmani), in its natural habitat 164 million years ago. This illustration represents a reconstruction of the Kilmaluag Formation fauna (late Bathonian, Isle of Skye, Scotland).

About The Turtle’s Name

Anquetin, who was also one of the researchers who analysed the fossils, also created the name for the species. 

“I liked the idea of giving it a name in Gaelic, so I tried to find words that sound good in Gaelic and Latin.” he said.

“I chose ‘Eilean’, so the whole name means ‘the turtle from the island’.”

The Turtle’s Appearance

Mr Anquetin says that, although the ancient turtle would have resembled a modern freshwater turtle on the outside, on the inside there are key differences.

“The differences are on the inside - in the cranial anatomy. They are small differences but very important. There is no other turtle like this one.” he explained. 

Analyzing The Fossils

The six fossils were found at the bay of Cladach a’Ghlinne, on the Strathaird peninsula in 2004. Researchers from the Natural History Museum and University College London then cut the slab of rock away, painstakenly released the fossils from the rock, then analyzed them.  

The new species is the most complete Middle Jurassic turtle species ever described. The findings were reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

The specimens are now being housed in the National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh.

A million tonnes of fish and other marine life caught in the North Sea is thrown overboard every year, according to a new study by WWF-Germany.

The resulting report, entitled “Sea Creatures Are Not Rubbish”, says that one-third of all North Sea catch ends up back in the sea. In other words, for every tonne that ends up at the fishmonger, two tonnes were thrown back into the ocean. 

The discarded creatures are usually referred to as “bycatch”. Bycatch is any species caught in a fishery that wasn’t supposed to be - often because it’s the wrong species or it’s too small. 

The main problem with bycatch is that, most creatures are dead or close to death by the time they’re thrown back into the ocean. This represents a huge threat to marine life all over the world. Each year, millions of turtles, whales, dolphins, sharks, and seabirds, right through to juvenile fish, corals, crabs and starfish etc are killed and tossed back into the ocean.

And it’s not just a conservation problem. It’s also a problem for the fishers themselves.

“Bycatch costs fishers time and money,” says Amanda Nickson, Head of WWF’s Bycatch Initiative. “It contributes to the already critical problem of over-fishing, it jeopardizes future revenue, jobs and long-term food security.”

“It is also a major killer of marine wildlife. How many more reasons do you need to change the way we fish?” she adds.

Different target species result in different degrees of bycatch. For example, the report says that for every kilogram of Dover sole (Solea solea) that found its way to the fishmonger, six kilograms of bycatch had been thrown overboard. The study also found that every kilogram of Norwegian lobster or scampi results in five kilograms of bycatch.

WWF says that every year several million sharks and up to 250,000 sea turtles are killed in fishing operations designed to catch other species.

“Bycatch is an incredible waste and one of the largest threats to many sea creatures,” said Karoline Schacht, Fisheries Policy Officer, WWF-Germany. “The drama happens far away at sea but this unseen wastefulness must come to an end.”

WWF has been working on the bycatch issue arround the world, and currently has 70 bycatch projects in over 40 countries.

Here’s the full report (written in German): Sea Creatures Are Not Rubbish [PDF, 1.03 MB]