Barry and the turtle

This is a story about this little turtle. The students named her Hope. The researchers didn't have much for her.Shortly after I arrived here, my roommate, Mario Mota, who is a turtle researcher from Florida (formerly a dolphin and manatee researcher), was snorkeling off of what is called "front dock." This is the dock that we generally use for the boats. There is a "back dock" which is closer to the lagoon, near where the saltwater crocodiles live (I haven't seen one yet). There is a large fish that hangs out under front dock. His name is Barry. Can you guess what kind of fish he is? Try. I'll post a picture when I get around to taking one of him for those of you that can't guess. Mario saw some blood in the water and Barry grinning (that's a hint) nearby. Swimming round was a young (2 years old or less), female green turtle bleeding from a severed front flipper. Mario grabbed her before Barry came back for more. We didn't keep her long. The students had the chance to see her before she was released later on that evening. She may make it. They had an adult female named Calypso, who also had a missing flipper, nest here several times. She would apparently try to dig her nest , but struggled. Although they have mixed feelings about it, Calypso got help digging her nest. Hope has a long ways to go before she'll be ready to try something like Calypso did. (Here's a link to some info about green sea turtles, in case you want to know more http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/green.htm )