Long Beach Island Guidebook & Map

66 home • PORT Overview Diamondback terrapins are a species of turtle found in estuaries, bays, lagoons, and creeks along the East and Gulf coasts of the United States and in Bermuda. The subspecies in our area of the Jersey Shore, the Northern Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys), is at the north- ern-most part of its range. Their diets consist of invertebrates (marine snails— especially the saltmarsh per- iwinkle, clams, mussels, and other mollusks), vegetation, and small fish. Adult females grow larger than males, becoming mature in six to nine years. Males mature in three to five years. Females dig nests on bay beaches. They deposit clutches of eggs (between four and twenty), which incubate in approximately sixty to ninety days. Hatchlings emerge in late summer and are only the size of a quar- ter. Sometimes hatchlings remain in the nest through winter (called overwintering). Only one in one hundred baby terrapins survive to adulthood. Threats to Terrapins Little is known about terrapin popula- tions. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the turtles were harvested as a food source throughout their range. This harvesting trend declined after the 1930s. In July 2016, terrapins were removed from the New Jersey game list and are now desig- nated as non-game with no hunting season. However, they are still being illegally taken from the wild and sold today. There are numerous threats to terrapins at the Jersey Shore. Commercial-style crab pots kill thousands of the turtles annually Northern Diamondback Terrapins across their range. (Terrapins that access the pots cannot escape and drown.) Motorboats cause mortality by injuring the turtles with their propellers. Nesting females trying to cross roadways sometimes get run over. Overdevelopment causes both destruction and fragmentation of their habitat and can decrease populations. Project Terrapin Project Terrapin is a research and edu- cation initiative focusing on the turtles in the Barnegat Bay estuary. It is based at the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science (MATES), a pub- lic high school in Manahawkin. MATES is ranked as one of the "Best Public High Schools in New Jersey" (4th by Niche.com and 26th by U.S. News and World Report), and according to new state data, students here have the fifth highest average SAT scores in New Jersey. At MATES, through Project Terrapin, students study the biology, life history, and ecology of terrapins. The students, as well as teachers and volunteers, work toward learning more about the turtles through Continued on page 55 Richard A. King Northern Diamondback Terrapins

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