After midnight on Wednesday, the call of a citizen to the emergency service of 112 warned that a specimen of sea turtle had entered the beach of Can Pere Antoni in Palma. The person believed that the turtle had laid eggs in the sand and then had taken the road back to the shore to enter the waters of the Mediterranean. After mobilizing the technicians of the Consortium for the Recovery of the Fauna of the Balearic Islands (COFIB), it was found that the turtle had laid 106 eggs and buried them in the sand. This is the first laying of eggs of a sea turtle on a beach on the island of Mallorca since records exist. It is the first of the year that is notified on a Spanish beach.
Just four years ago the first laying of eggs of a sea turtle was recorded on the beaches of the Balearic Islands. It was on July 25, 2019, when a specimen spawned 58 eggs in the sandy area of Platja d'en Bossa on the island of Ibiza. Just a few days later, on July 29, another turtle of the same species chose the beach of Es Cavallet in the Natural Park of Ses Salines to create a nest in which it laid 102 eggs. From both clutches 37 turtles were born, which were transferred to three different centers to follow a captive breeding process that would allow them to grow until they were released into the sea at the age of one. "It is important to frame this event within the context of climate emergency, of a climatic variation in the Mediterranean above all, not only in the waters, but in the temperatures of the sandy areas," said the Minister of the Environment, Miquel Mir.
Footprints of the turtle on the beach of Mallorca. Balearic Government
After receiving the warning at dawn, the technical specialists in the environment have moved to the beach of Can Pere Antoni, an urban sandy area located at the foot of the Palacio de Congresos de Palma. It is a beach very frequented by residents and that presents an important occupation because it is easy to access it on foot from the center of the city. The technicians have been able to follow the trail that the turtle has left in the sand and have found the 106 eggs buried in the sand. The coordinator of the department of marine fauna of the COFIB, Guillem Félix, says that 26 eggs have been removed from the 106 of the nest to carry out an "artificial incubation", something that is usually done to try to optimize the process and that not all the eggs are in the same conditions. "With artificial conditions we can control the temperature and, in addition, it serves as a sneak because the incubator eggs begin to hatch a few days before the beach ones do."
At the state level it is difficult to locate what are the egg-laying periods of sea turtles since these episodes are usually isolated because the Spanish coasts are not a breeding area. However, specialists have concluded that the laying season runs from the end of May to mid-October, so the one held on the beach of Mallorca "is one of the earliest in the history of the Spanish coast". The reproductive cycle of these animals causes them to lay eggs up to four times in a margin of between 14 and 18 days between one spawning and another. "The chances of this animal returning in 10 or 15 days is high, it does not have to be on this beach, but the chances of a new laying are high so you have to be alert," said Felix.
Some of the eggs that a sea turtle has laid for the first time since there are records on a beach in Mallorca. Balearic Government
The hatching of the eggs will depend on factors such as the temperature of the sand and the air, but the incubation period will end between the last days of July and the first days of August. For the time being, the area has been fenced and marked pending a technical committee to decide the conditions under which the incubation of the eggs continues to ensure their viability. Minister Mir recalls that, if any citizen observes the presence of a turtle in a sand, he has to call the emergency service of 112 so that the protocol is activated and the technicians "can be diligent and address it without endangering the nests".
The Caretta caretta or loggerhead turtle is the only species of sea turtle that nests predominantly outside tropical latitudes. It is medium-sized and can exceed one meter in length and 200 kilos in weight. It is the most abundant sea turtle in the Mediterranean and, although sightings in the archipelago can occur all year round, it is more frequent that they occur between June and September.