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Marine Turtle Newsletter 51:16-17, © 1990

Male Hawksbill Stranded at Kosgoda, Sri Lanka

Suhashini Hewavisenthi
Department of Zoology, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

A dead and decomposed male hawksbill sea turtle was found on the beach on the morning of 12 October 1989 (Table 1). No external wounds were present on the body of the turtle, but the base of the neck, tail, and flippers were swollen and had a bluish tint. On the carapace, only the nuchal and marginal scutes were present. The vertebral and costal scutes had been removed; probably the turtle died during scute removal. The method by which scutes are removed from hawksbill turtles has been described in the literature (Bennet, 1843; Deraniyagala, 1939). The procedure involves suspending the turtle up-side-down over a fire and stripping the scutes from the live animal. Later, the turtle is released alive, the belief being that it will regenerate new scutes.

Table 1. Dimensions (cm) of a male hawksbill stranded at Kosgoda, Sri Lanka, 1989.

SL = straight length using a wooden caliper; CL = curved length using a flexible steel tape.

* dorsal measurement of the tail, beyond carapace [ventral tail length beyond plaston = 28.0 cm]

All five species of sea turtle that nest on the beaches of Sri Lanka (as well as their eggs) are absolutely protected by the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, Chapter 469, as amended by acts no. 44 (1964) and no. 1 (1970). It is an offense for any person to possess, capture, kill, or injure these animals or to take or destroy their eggs. However, there is virtually unrestricted poaching of turtle eggs all along the coast, while juveniles and adults and even nesting females are being slaughtered in many coastal areas of the island. Probably the barbarous method of scute removal still exists in Sri Lanka, even though there are no documented records in the recent past.

With the exception of Deraniyagala (1939), who mentioned that a male hawksbill found in Jaffna (northern Sri Lanka) was slightly larger than a female found there, there are no other records of male hawksbills from Sri Lanka. Deraniyagala (1939, 1953) gave dimensions for male leatherback, loggerhead, olive ridley, and green sea turtles, but not for the male hawksbill.

Bennet, J. W. 1843. Ceylon and its capabilities. Reprint, Rajagiriya (Sri Lanka) Trumpet Publishers Ltd. 1984:273-276.

Deraniyagala, P. E. P. 1939. The Tetrapod Reptiles of Ceylon, Vol 1: Testudinates and Crocodilians. National Museum, Colombo, Ceylon, 412 pages.

Deraniyagala, P. E. P. 1953. A Colored Atlas of Some Vertebrates from Ceylon, Vol 2: Tetrapod Reptilia. National Museum, Colombo; The Ceylon Government Press, Ceylon, 101 pages.