OKALOOSA ISLAND —When George Gray got a call Monday morning about loggerhead turtle hatchlings in a resort pool, he was caught off guard.
Gray, the sea turtle coordinator for Okaloosa County, had been monitoring a nearby nest closely and didn’t expect the eggs to hatch for several days.
“Normally I’m there for every hatch,” said Gray. “I’ve been watching that nest closely and it snuck up on me.”
Loggerhead turtles are a threatened species.
He planned to watch the nest Monday night and make sure any new hatchlings headed in the right direction.
In addition to the three silver-dollar-sized hatchlings in a resort’s lazy river, another 25 were stopped on their way to an inland retention pond.
The condo was in compliance with turtle-friendly measures, such as proper lighting, Gray said.
All of the turtles were carried down to the Gulf of Mexico and released.
“They had already walked long enough,” Gray said.
Once in the gulf, hatchlings swim for about 24 hours, seeking safety in a patch of floating weeds. Unfortunately, predators cruise that same weedline, looking for food, Gray said.
“They’re just a bite-size morsel for any of the larger fish,” he said. “It’s just the circle of life.”
Contact Daily News Assignment Editor Wendy Victora at 850-315-4478 or wvictora@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @WendyVnwfdn.
