Did you know that anglerfish can be predators of loggerhead sea turtles in the Med?
Thanks to ARCHELON’s nationwide sea turtle Stranding Network*, anglerfish were recorded as opportunistic predators of sea turtles in the Med for the first time. A juvenile loggerhead turtle was found in the stomach of an anglerfish! Here is the story:
Loggerheads are predated at various stages of their life cycle by several species of marine and terrestrial animals. In the marine environment, it is assumed that predation rates are greater at early life stages and decline as turtles gain larger sizes. Marine predators for larger size loggerheads are mainly sharks as well as Mediterranean Monk Seals and large fish.
A full note on this was published in the Natural History Notes of the Herpetological Review 50(4), 2019, Dimitris Margaritoulis and Pavlos Tsaros/ ARCHELON.
(*) The Stranding/Rescue Network for sea turtles is operated by ARCHELON since 1992 and its members are Coast Guard officers, local Societies and concerned citizens, who collect data from dead turtles and help transfer injured turtles to the Rescue Centre, near Athens.
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