Ocean Ancients

On St Thomas, my friends and I visited a place called Coral World. We were originally apprehensive because the place had gotten some poor reviews online, and the weather report forecast said it would rain. However, everything turned out great! We loved the park, even though it was small. The exhibits were beautiful and the animals all seemed to be healthy and happy. In addition, some random guy at the front gave us coupons for a discount, it did not rain all day, and the animal handlers were really friendly and informative. Our original plan was to spend half the day there and half the day snorkeling at Coki Beach, but since Coral World exceeded expectations, we ended up staying until closing time.

These are green sea turtles. Coral World had four sea turtles on exhibit. The two in this enclosure were rescued as babies. They were too weak to make it from the nest to the water, which meant they would have been too weak to swim if put in the water. So Coral World took them in and took care of them, and they now help raise awareness of the plight of sea turtles. Contrary to the title, these two aren't ancient at all, but just in their teens. It is estimated that these turtles can live up to their hundreds. The other two sea turtles at Coral World are only temporarily there for rehabilitation purposes, since they were hurt in the wild.

Tomorrow, June 8, is World Ocean Day. The day is meant to help people learn and remember how important the ocean is to every one of us, even if we live inland. The ocean provides oxygen, water, food, and medicine for us. It helps regulate our climate and acts as a buffer against pollution. In addition, the ocean is just plain beautiful.

Sea turtles are important to the marine ecosystem. The green sea turtle in particular is important due to its feeding habits. Adults eat primarily sea grass. They, along with manatees, help keep sea grass beds short, kind of like an underwater lawnmower. This keeps the grass beds healthy, which is essential, because the grass beds are a nursery for hundreds (if not thousands) of species of fish, crustaceans, and other animals. Sea turtles' eggs are also valuable to the environment. When the eggs hatch, a majority of the hatchlings provide food for seabirds, dolphins, crabs, and the like. The unhatched eggs or hatchlings that never make it out of the nest provide important nutrients for beach plants like dune grass, which in turn helps prevent the beach from eroding, as well as provides an ecosystem for small animals.
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Sea turtles are one of my favorite marine animals. They are a pleasure to watch as they slowly make their way through the water with grace. I spotted my first wild one while diving in St Thomas. Unfortunately, the photograph I took of it is too low quality for me to upload here. I might put it up in scraps. It was truly a magical experience for me.

Other green sea turtles:


Green Sea Turtles
Coral World, St Thomas USVI