Loggerhead sea turtle found dead off Thessaloniki
A loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) was found dead by a member of the public in the Thermaic Gulf, off Thessaloniki on Tuesday afternoon.
The turtle was found near the local Yacht Club and the coast guard was notified, along with the municipality’s environmental directorate, who pulled the turtle out of the water.
This is the second sea turtle of its kind found dead on Tuesday, after another animal was located off the beach of Kalamaria, a district east of downtown Thessaloniki.
No information was available on whether the turtle’s death was due to injury or natural causes.
Loggerheads are considered a vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature that nest on sandy beaches from Greece and Turkey to Israel and Libya. In Greece they are found along some of the Peloponnese beaches and the Ionian islands.
