Somatic growth function for immature loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, in southeastern US waters

The Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network, coordinated by the National M arine Fisheries Service through a network of state coordinators. archives d ata on sea turtles that strand along the U.S. coast. We conducted length-fr equency analyses, using MUL-TIFAN software, to generate somatic growth func tions for loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, that stranded along the Atlantic coast of Florida (n=1234) and along the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico (n=570) between 1988 and 1995. In both legions, the size range of lo ggerhead sea turtles between the size at which they begin to recruit in sub stantial numbers from pelagic to neritic habitats (46 fm curved carapace le ngth [CCL]) and minimum size at sexual maturity (87 cm CCL) was composed of 20 year classes and had similar von Bertalanffy growth functions. Our esti mates of 20 ear classes fall within the range of estimates calculated from previous studies (9 to 29 years) for this life stage. Because sun survivors hip in this size range has been identified as critical for population recov ery an accurate estimate of life stage is essential far developing effectiv e management plans.