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Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 353-356 (2021) (published online on 14 February 2021)

First record of Olive Ridley Sea Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829) nesting in the United Arab Emirates

Fadi Yaghmour1,* and Clara J. Rodríguez-Zárate2

Five of the seven extant of sea occur in In recent years, less frequent arribadas have been reported the waters of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including at large nesting sites like Gahirmatha, suggesting a Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata; IUCN Red List potential population decline (Behera and Kaiser, 2020). category Critically Endangered), Green (Chelonia mydas; In the Arabian region, olive ridleys are less common and Vulnerable), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta; Critically documented as nesting primarily in and Pakistan. Endangered), Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea; Nesting activity in Pakistan has fallen from 25–120 nests Vulnerable), and Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea; per year in 1982–84 (Cornelius et al., 2007) to two nests Vulnerable) (Abreu-Grobois and Plotkin, 2008; Mortimer per year in 1996–97 (Asrar, 1999). A small yet stable and Donnelly, 2008; Wallace et al., 2013; Casale, 2015; nesting population exists on the southern tip of Masirah Mancini et al., 2019). The former three species are Island in Oman, where it is estimated that 150–400 relatively common in the UAE, with green sea turtles the females nest every year (Ross and Barwani, 1982; Rees most abundant and hawksbills the predominant nesting et al., 2012; AlSinaidi, 2014). An increasing body of species. On the other hand, leatherback and olive ridley evidence indicates that high levels of mortality may be sea turtles are considered rare visitors (Baldwin and a result of the impact from fisheries’ bycatch and “ghost Gardner, 2005; Yaghmour, 2019). fishing” (turtles caught and drowned by entanglement Globally, L. olivacea has a circumtropical distribution, in discarded fishing gear), suggesting that interaction occupying waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian with fisheries represents a high risk to sea turtles across Oceans, and it is considered the most abundant of all the region (Abdulqader et al., 2017; Yaghmour et al., species. Nonetheless, the West 2018a,b; Yaghmour, 2020). Recent evidence suggests that Population Management Unit of this species is recognised the nesting activity of L. olivacea also extends to Eritrea as the world’s most endangered subpopulation (Wallace (Mebrahtu, 2013) and Iran (Kami, 1997; Tollab et al., et al., 2010). In the Arabian Gulf, olive ridleys have 2015). Here, we present the first record of an olive ridley been reported in the waters of Iran (Tollab et al., 2015), nesting in the UAE. Bahrain (Abdulqader and Miller, 2012), and Kuwait On 2 May 2020 at 07:51 h, a guest of Kingfisher (Bishop et al., 2007). In the UAE, their presence has been Lodge, Khor Kalba (ca. 25.0179°N, 56.3700°E; documented along both the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Fig. 1A–C) observed a sea turtle hatchling crawling Oman coasts (Miller et al., 2004; Baldwin and Gardner, towards the ocean during a morning walk. Photographs 2005; Rees et al., 2012; Yaghmour, 2019). were taken and the hatchling remained unharassed as it Major nesting rookeries in the northern Indian Ocean made its way to the water. The observation was reported concentrate on arribada sites located along the east coast to the Environment and Protected Areas Authority. of , especially along the coast of Odisha, where Unfortunately, due to guest occupancy of the hotel, massive nesting events are observed (> 100,000 turtles investigation of the site was delayed until 4 May, when annually; Kar and Bhaskar, 1982; Shanker et al., 2004). the area was inspected for the presence of a nest. Several tracks (Fig. 1D, E) were observed on the middle and upper part of the beach that seemed to converge around a particular area. An emergence crater 1 Al Hefaiyah Mountain Conservation Centre, Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Kalba Sharjah, United Arab can usually be located by following hatchling tracks back Emirates. onto the beach from the water’s edge. In addition, soft 2 Sharjah Desert Park, Environment and Protected Areas sand on the surface of the nest can identify the channel Authority, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. through which hatchlings travelled to the surface. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] However, no evidence of the nest or related soft sand © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. around an emergence crater was detected. This could 354 Fadi Yaghmour & Clara J. Rodríguez-Zárate

Figure 1. (A) Location of the Olive (Lepidochelys olivacea) nesting site at Kalba Beach on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates. The position of Kalba Beach is indicated by the white square. (B) Satellite close-up of the stretch on Kalba Beach marked in (A), with potential olive ridley nesting locations (blue circles) and the point of encounter with an olive ridley hatchling (red circle). (C) Profile view of Kalba Beach to show the potential olive ridley nesting habitat, backed by low-lying and dispersed vegetation. (D) Tracks of olive ridley hatchlings, overlapping in the middle section of the beach. (E) Close-up of an olive ridley hatchling track. Notice the alternate marks left by the forelimbs and the central line left by the tail. Map Images taken from Google Earth. have resulted from the time that elapsed between the seven lateral scutes (Fig. 2A), two pairs of prefrontal hatching event and the time of inspection, which may scutes, a horny beak (Fig. 2B), a single claw on each have reduced the possibility of nest detection as the fore-flipper (Fig. 2C), and a precentral scute that touches sand dried out and fresh tracks and other evidence of an the anterior central scute and the two anterior lateral emergence crater disappeared. Furthermore, the presence scutes (Fig. 2D). of lights on the beach may have disoriented emerging This report represents the first record of olive ridley sea hatchlings and led to their meandering, resulting in a turtle nesting in the UAE. Sea turtle nesting activity in wider, not unidirectional dispersal along the beach before the UAE is mainly restricted to the Arabian Gulf coast, they reached the sea. It is well recognised that artificial where hawksbill turtles are the primary nesting species. lighting affects hatchlings, who aim for the ocean Along the Gulf of Oman coast of the UAE, sea turtle horizon as the brightest area on a dark night, by making nesting is not common and only two recent records are them crawl in the opposite direction of the sea (Longcore known: a single nest in 2014 and a single and Rich, 2004). As an ecolodge, the number of cabins hawksbill nest in 2015, both from Khor Kalba beach and levels of artificial lighting at Kingfisher Lodge is (Hebbelmann et al., 2009). The nesting event reported low, but we cannot discard the possibility that there may here is the third registered sea turtle nest from the Gulf have been an effect that reduced our opportunity to detect of Oman coast of the UAE. the nest. No dead hatchlings were observed. Using the Sporadic nesting outside known nesting ranges is not tourist’s photographs we were able to determine that the unusual in sea turtles, particularly olive ridleys, which hatchlings were olive ridleys with dark pigmentation, are considered a nomadic species with a more flexible First Record of Lepidochelys olivacea Nesting in the United Arab Emirates 355

Figure 2. (Lepidochelys olivacea) species diagnosis. (A) Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchling showing a carapace with seven lateral scutes. (B) Head view, showing four prefrontal scutes and a horny beak. (C) There is one claw on each forelimb. (D) A precentral scute (red) touches the anterior central scute (green) and both anterior lateral scutes (blue). Photos by Christopher Shorten.

level of philopatry to nesting areas compared to other such as that described here highlight the requirement sea turtle species (Plotkin, 2010), a trait that may help of continued research and conservation monitoring in facilitate the colonization of new and suitable nesting the UAE to better protect and understand the biology of habitats. Satellite tracking information of post-nesting these in the Arabian region. olive ridleys from , Oman, suggested that some turtles move to forage along the Arabian Gulf Acknowledgments. We express our sincere gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme coast of Iran avoiding the summer cooling caused by the Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, for his support. The southwest monsoon and the west Arabian sea upwelling authors would also like to acknowledge the support of Her (Rees et al., 2012). Our discovery could represent one Excellency Hana Saif Al Suwaidi, Chairperson of the Sharjah such female returning to nest in Masirah Island. Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA), and Dalal Sea turtles are also known to navigate using Al Yammahi, the EPAA Kalba office manager. The authors would magnetic fields (Lohmann et al., 2008; Putman et al., like to thank Kingfisher Lodge activities manager Bopanna 2011), although the exact mechanism behind these Kaliyatanda Devaiah and Kingfisher Lodge guest Christopher Shorten for their vital cooperation in documenting this record. navigational skills is not yet well understood. Thus, sporadic nesting events may be, in part, the result of References imprecise magnetic field sensing. However, we cannot discount the possibility that this nesting event may have Abdulqader, E.A.A., Miller, J. (2012): Marine turtle mortalities in Bahrain territorial waters. Chelonian Conservation and Biology been the result of an inexperienced female’s nesting 11(1): 133–138. attempt, during which it mistook its beach of origin Abdulqader, E.A.A., Miller, J., Al-Mansi, A., Al-Abdulkader, K., with another along its migration route. New discoveries Fita, N., Al-Nadhiri, H., Rabaoui, L. (2017): Turtles and other 356 Fadi Yaghmour & Clara J. Rodríguez-Zárate

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