Rare sea turtle washes up dead with ‘whole ecosystem traveling with it,’ photos show

A 75-pound sea turtle washed up on an Oregon beach with an entire ecosystem living on its shell, officials said.

Officials with Seaside Aquarium said the sea turtle was found the morning on March 19 after washing up on “the south end of Manzanita beach,” according to a Facebook post by the aquarium.

The loggerhead sea turtle had been dead for some time and after further investigation to confirm the species, officials found a “whole ecosystem traveling with it,” officials said.

The endangered sea turtle had “live goose barnacles, skeleton shrimp,” and sea slugs on its shell, officials said.

Seaside Aquarium officials said that these endangered sea turtles “can be found worldwide and have nine distinct populations.”

Plastic submerged in the ocean gives off the same scent as their prey, so the biggest threat to loggerheads is marine debris, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Loggerheads can live between 70 and 80 years, tend to mate every two to three years “and return to nest on a beach in the general area where they hatched decades earlier,” according to NOAA.

Marine officials will conduct a necropsy to determine the loggerhead’s cause of death, officials said.

Manzanita is about 95 miles northwest of Portland.

This story was originally published March 20, 2023 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Rare sea turtle washes up dead with ‘whole ecosystem traveling with it,’ photos show."