A powerful hurricane expected to affect Southern California this weekend has prompted scientists to rescue rare sea turtle eggs from local beaches before dangerous surf reaches the shore.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials relocated the eggs Friday as Hurricane Polo, a Category 5 storm, churned off Mexico’s western coast. Although the hurricane is not expected to make a direct hit on California, it could generate large swells and coastal flooding.
The rescue involved two nests in Huntington Beach and Seal Beach, each containing roughly 100 eggs. Biologists believe they are the first documented natural sea turtle nests on the U.S. West Coast.
The nests belong to olive ridley sea turtles, a species listed as endangered along Mexico’s Pacific coast under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
“Due to hazardous surf conditions expected to coincide with this weekend’s high tides, there is an elevated concern that the nests will be washed away,” the aquarium said in a news release. “Collectively, we made the challenging decision to carefully move the olive ridley sea turtle eggs from the wild to the Aquarium of the Pacific.”
Biologists removed the eggs individually early Friday morning and placed them in Styrofoam coolers. The eggs were later transferred to the Aquarium of the Pacific’s climate-controlled recovery room for incubation.
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The eggs are expected to hatch in approximately 45 to 60 days, according to the aquarium.
The discovery is highly unusual because olive ridley turtles rarely, if ever, nest in the United States. Their typical nesting grounds are in Mexico. Jeff Seminoff of NOAA’s Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program told King5 that the turtles’ arrival in California may have resulted from a “navigational blunder.”
“For some reason, they probably thought that they’re a little bit farther south,” Seminoff said. Olive ridley turtles generally return to the beaches where they hatched, and the nearest nesting beaches are about 700 miles south of the California sites.
Video showing the turtles laying their eggs quickly spread online. Officials fenced off both nesting areas and urged beachgoers to keep their distance.
The eggs will remain at the aquarium for now, with officials promising to share updates about their condition on social media.
Along the California coast, cities are preparing for powerful waves that could pound beaches and flood homes, parking lots and other low-lying areas.
The National Weather Service forecast elevated surf and strong rip currents along Southern California beaches beginning this weekend and continuing into next week as several southerly swells move toward the coast.
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