Reproductive Biology of Captive Green Sea TurtlesCheloniamydas

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Abstract
A captive colony of green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, has been maintained and observed at a commercial sea turtle farm on Grand Cayman Island, B.W.I., since 1973. Observations of this breeding colony show that the mating and nesting behaviour of the captive green sea turtle is similar to that observed in wild populations. Evidence indicates that mating observed prior to a female's nesting in a given season determines the hatchabilityof that season's egg production. Annual per female egg production of the captive colony appears to be two to five times greater than that reported for wild colonies. Observations on the reproductive biology of green sea turtles hatched and raised under farm conditions suggests that the minimum age of sexual maturity is eight to nine years of age. The number of eggs per nest, the number of nests per season per female and hatch rate tend to increase with successive seasons nesting for these turtles reaching sexual maturity.

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