Galveston, Texas Head Start Captive Reared Sea Turtle Program Data, 1979-2016 (NCEI Accession 0157625)

This is a compilation of several data sets related to the Galveston Texas Seaturtle Headstart program. Most notable is the Kemp's ridley headstart program [1978-1992] which captive reared up to 2,000 Kemp's ridley hatchlings per year until they were large enough to receive up to 4 tags, then they were released into the wild in the Gulf of Mexico. Morphometric measurements such as carapace length, carapace width, body depth and weight are taken to track growth and health. This data package also contains data from the seawater intake pump. Water quality data is recorded during the intake of seawater through the intake lines. This data package also contains a summary of bacteria found in the turtle tanks. In order to maintain healthy reared sea turtle swabs were taken and tested for several different bacteria.