Diversity of Epibionts Associated with Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz 1829) Sea Turtles Nesting in the Mexican South Pacific

The present study contributes to the knowledge of epibionts recorded on sea turtles that nested on a beach in the South Pacific of Mexico. A total of 125 Lepidochelys olivacea turtles nested on Llano Real beach, Guerrero, Mexico, were examined. We collected 450 conspicuous organisms from 8 species f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2021-06, Vol.11 (6), p.1734
Main Authors: Ramos-Rivera, Brenda Sarahí, Castro-Mondragon, Himmer, Kuk-Dzul, José Gabriel, Flores-Rodríguez, Pedro, Flores-Garza, Rafael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Aquatic reptiles
Beaches
Caretta caretta
Commensalism
Epibionts
Eretmochelys imbricata
Geographical distribution
Interspecific relationships
Lepidochelys olivacea
Mexico
Nesting
Organisms
Parasitism
Relative abundance
Reptiles & amphibians
Sampling
sea turtle
Sea turtles
Similarity
South Pacific
Species composition
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:The present study contributes to the knowledge of epibionts recorded on sea turtles that nested on a beach in the South Pacific of Mexico. A total of 125 Lepidochelys olivacea turtles nested on Llano Real beach, Guerrero, Mexico, were examined. We collected 450 conspicuous organisms from 8 species from 43 turtles. The corresponding data analysis was carried out to obtain the relative abundance, the relationship between turtle sizes and the presence of organisms, the similarity of species between the sampling months, and the interspecific relationships between the epibionts and the turtles observed. Chelonibia testudinaria was the most abundant species, while Remora remora was the least abundant species. The turtles were divided into six body sections, with the greatest abundance of these organisms located in the head–neck section of turtles, and there was a significant difference in the size of the turtles that presented epibionts and those that did not. C. testudinaria showed greater similarity between sampling months, and the interspecific relationships recorded were commensalism, parasitism, amensalism, and protocooperation. This research contributes the first record of epibionts in L. olivacea nesting in Guerrero, Mexico.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani11061734