engleski

Validation of a technique for skeletochronology analysis of somatic growth in loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, from Mediterranean Sea

Histological analysis of skeletal growth marks on cross sections of humeri is a common method for the assessment of age and growth in sea turtles, but it requires allometric relation between bone growth and somatic growth. In order to test the possibility of use of skeletochronology as a method for aging C. caretta in the Mediterranean, we sampled humeri from 116 loggerheads with the curved carapace length (CCL) ranging from 24.0 – 90.0 cm (mean CCL = 46.6 cm, SD = 15.0) found dead in the eastern and central Mediterranean (Italy, Slovenia and Croatia) in 1995 – 2006. We isolated, cleaned and air dried humeri, and took eight morphometric measurements (maximal length, longitudal length, proximal width, distal width, deltopectoralcrest width, minimum width, thickness and mass). We converted CCL to the straight carapace length (SCL) and correlated humeri measures with SCL by the mean of least – squares linear regression. All eight humeri measures were significantly correlated to SCL (r2 = 0.936 – 0.960 ; p < 0.001), which have confirmed adequateness of humeri for skeletochronology analysis of Mediterranean loggerheads.

sea turtle; skeletochronology; aging; somatic growth; population dynamics

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