Coral

All Turtle Patients

Meet Coral, A Juvenile Olive Ridley Found Floating

Coral, a juvenile olive ridley, was found floating, dehydrated and with leaches on her near Naifaru, Lhaviyani atoll.

Intake Date: 11th July 2020
Length: 47 cm
Weight: 9.4 kg
Status: Released 25th September 2020

Coral has been adopted by Sama, Kay K Smith, for Stephanie and Marissa by Marissa Shaver, for Dhruvsingh by Pallavi, by Sabine & Thomas, for Geraldine by Tomas Medley and by Caron B Canada.

Coral was found on 29th March 2020 and was temporarily cared for by a marine biologist at Naifaru. Since COVID-19 had restricted movements between islands, we were not able to be relocate Coral to one of our rescue centres until July. She eventually arrived at our Rescue Centre at Coco Palm, Dhuni Kolhu on 11th July 2020 via speedboat. 

12 July 2020
Since our vet is off site due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Coral had a virtual examination with our turtle biologist, Rosie, and lead vet, Dr. Claire Petros. Overall, she appeared to be in good health. She had no major injuries, though her shell had slightly deteriorated in parts. When she first arrived at the Rescue Centre, she was diving and swimming beautifully. Over the next few days she started to struggle to dive and she eventually became completely buoyant. She has been refusing to eat, but we are trying to tempt her with some crab, which is what she was used to at Naifaru. When she settles in a little, we are hoping we can tempt her with some food so that she will practice her diving again. We are hopeful that she will make a speedy recovery!

23 July 2020
Coral has now started eating fish, but we will continue to supplement her diet with crabs as they seem to be her favourite. She seems a little more comfortable in the tank and has even been trying to dive. She is a fairly strong swimmer so we are hoping that her buoyancy issues will resolve soon.

23 September 2020
Coral has come on leaps and bounds since arriving at the Rescue Centre in July. She arrived buoyant but that has resolved completely now, and she can dive and sleep on the bottom of the tank like a pro. Her shell damage (she had scutes lifting away) has healed wonderfully and her carapace (top shell) is almost back to normal. She has had some pre-release blood work and x-rays, which all looked great and we can’t wait to release her! Unfortunately her initial release got cancelled due to bad weather as it is quite stormy on the island at the moment, but we will be ensuring she gets released at the earliest opportunity.

25 September 2020
Coral was released today. She was definitely ready to go home and swam off into the deep blue like a shot!