AGE AND GROWTH IN WILD KEMPS RIDLEY SEATURTLES LEPIDOCHELYS KEMPII FROM SKELETOCHRONOLOGICAL DATA

Skeletochronological analysis provides age estimates, not actual ages, for seaturtles. Unlike age and growth data from captive and headstart turtles, these estimates predict the actual patterns of age and growt h iii free-living turtles. A moderate-sized sample of 69 Lepidochelys kempii, salvaged from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the USA, had str aight-line carapace lengths (SCL) of 188-720 mm and age-estimates of 2 -15 years. The von Bertalanffy growth model provides the best fit for the age-estimate and size data and predicts maturity between II and 16 years, depending upon the body size selected to represent sexual matu rity. The logistic growth model suggests later maturity of 13-19 years . Comparison of the Atlantic and Gulf components of the sample suggest s a faster growth rate for ridleys in the Gulf of Mexico, although the sizes of the subsamples are too small for this interpretation to be r eliable without additional data. Our age and growth estimates indicate that some members of the early cohorts of headstart ridleys are matur e and may have nested already. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.