The unsinkable Corky the hawksbill turtle found in St. John waters is back at Coral World, and the way it looks right now, that's where he's going to stay.
Corky, who's about two and a half years old, just returned to the marine park after nine months in Florida, mostly spent undergoing testing and diagnosis at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon in the Florida Keys and at the University of Florida's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
The sea turtle's problem is that he is overly buoyant. He literally can't dive and stay submerged — which means he can't forage in the wild for his natural prey, which includes sponges and small crustaceans. (This story refers to Corky as "he" although Coral World curator Donna Nemeth notes, "We don't know if Corky is male or female. It's too soon to tell.")
Corky first arrived at Coral World in November 1998, and he was in pretty bad shape. A National Park Service employee on St. John had found him off Little Hawksnest Beach near Caneel Bay "covered with algae, very skinny, just floating there," Nemeth recalls. The employee took the turtle to Rafe Boulon at the V.I. National Park Biosphere Reserve Center, and Boulon in turn took him to Coral World. But after seven months of care, marine park personnel couldn't figure out why Corky was a floater, so they decided last June to send him to experts in Florida for further analysis.
There, under the care of some of the best turtle specialists in the nation, Corky underwent blood tests, X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging and neurological testing. He was diagnosed as having a disease of the central nervous system, which could account for his awkward swimming and inability to dive, Nemeth says. "Yet, none of the tests showed a lung injury or air in the body cavity that could explain why the turtle is so buoyant." Fortunately for Coral World, the experts donated their services. "It was an opportunity for them," Nemeth notes. "Because hawksbill turtles are an endangered species, you study them when they're available." All the marine park had to do was foot the bill for Corky's airfare up and back.
He traveled in air cargo class, going up in a dog carrier "with big foam pillows moistened to keep him cool," Nemeth says. He would have been back a month or two earlier, she says, but the limited air cargo space for animals was fully booked well in advance.
After he rebounded from the trauma of air travel, Corky was introduced to his new home – – the Coral World Turtle Pool, which is otherwise inhabited by six green sea turtles rescued from St. Croix's Buck Island after they failed to emerge from their nest as hatchlings. They are about the same age as the hawksbill, but Corky, at 8 to 9 pounds, weighs about one-fourth what the greens do, Nemeth says, and at about a foot in length, he appears to be one-third their size. Adult hawksbills grow to about 150 pounds, while the greens will reach around 350 pounds, she says. "But we're not going to worry about that," she says. "It will be many years until we get to that point."
When she first put Corky into the pool, "All of the green turtles came right up to him and put their snouts on him like they were smelling him," Nemeth says. "Since then, they haven't bothered him at all." The hawksbill "eats very well. He's very healthy, he tries to swim, but he's not as active as the green turtles," she says.
Because he cannot feed himself, Corky will stay at Coral World indefinitely, Nemeth says. He's used to people feeding him — a diet of shrimp, squid, small fishes and vitamins that is the same thing the green turtles eat (they also get a daily dose of Romaine lettuce, which Corky does not).
Nemeth notes that Corky is not the first unsinkable turtle to come to Coral World. "Actually, it's quite a common experience," she says. "We've had several others brought to us in the same condition that didn't survive. We've also had hatchlings come to us who seemed to be in the same condition, but after a short time it seemed to correct itself."
Depending on the cause of the buoyancy, several treatments have proven successful in other cases, Nemeth says "A hole in the lungs might allow air into the body cavity, and we would treat that with antibiotics. A wound could heal over and trap air inside." But the Florida scientists found no identifiable cause for Corky's problem.
"I don't think we'll be able to release him into the wild," she says. "We're committed to caring for him as long as necessary. We're going to talk to some people at aquariums in Florida who have had experience raising hawksbills in captivity."
One highly untechnical procedure that has worked for some over-buoyant turtles, she says, is simply "to epoxy lead weights to the bottom of their shell."
Meantime, Corky is there in the Turtle Pool and, Nemeth says, "We hope our visitors enjoy the rare opportunity to compare hawksbill and green sea turtles up close."
