The Northernmost Record of the Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Caretta caretta (Testudines, Cheloniidae), in the Black Sea with the Review of the Species Occurrence in the Region

O.  Zinenko; K. A.  Vishnyakova; L.  Stoyanov; P. E.  Gol’din

doi:10.15407/zoo2021.02.127

O. Zinenko https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5228-9940
K. A. Vishnyakova https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6455-6601
L. Stoyanov
P. E. Gol’din https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6118-1384

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/zoo2021.02.127

Keywords: sea turtles, Caretta caretta, Black Sea, Ukraine, range expansion

Abstract

A rare live record of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758) is reported from the Dzharylgach Gulf in the north-western Black Sea. This is the first record from Ukrainian waters since 1962 and the northernmost record of the species in the Black Sea. The loggerhead sea turtles of the east Mediterranean origin are increasingly often seen in the Marmara and the Black Sea during the latest decade, which is an evidence for potential expansion of this species range, at least partly due to climate changes.

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