A pair of Chinese soft-shelled marsh turtles were spotted recently near Boston, and local marine biologists are concerned that they might disrupt the New England ecosystem.
THE CHINESE SOFTSHELL TURTLE
Chinese softshell turtles are considered a delicacy in many parts of Asia, where they are raised on turtle farms and sold in numbers upwards of a hundred million each year. Turtle soup is made from softshell turtles, and their meat is stewed with noodles as a gourmet winter dish in Japan. In Europe, the softshell turtle is a popular pet.
Researchers are guessing that these particular turtles were mostly likely bought to cook and then, for whatever spiritual or ethical reason (or maybe for none at all), were released into the wild, instead of being served for dinner.
My research (and active imagination) tells me it’s also possible that some hip young New England couple was going the European pet route and brought home a pair of these babies as playmates before they realized that Chinese softshell turtles excrete urea (read: pee) through their mouths. They also secrete “a foul-smelling fluid” from their shells when provoked. At which point, the well-meaning but under-prepared hip New England couple pressed their palms together zen-style and set free the smelly but beautiful creatures into the nearest body of brackish water.
RELEASE AWAY, IF THE SPECIES IS NATIVE
It’s fine and even kind and good to release animals into the wild instead of eating them, IF the animal is of a species native to the area. When the animals are non-native, as in the case of these softshell turtles, their sudden presence can throw an entire food chain out of whack.
Chinese softshell turtles are relatively big predators in a brackish water ecosystem. Their shells can be as long as a foot or a foot and a half, and they can eat “large amounts of small fish, mussels, clams, and insects.” If the turtles were to start consuming prey that serve a key function in the surrounding area, unpredictable collapses could occur in a sort of environmental chain reaction. Because softshell turtles can survive in cold climates, they stand a decent chance of establishing a population in New England despite the frigid Boston winters–a feat many American citizens wouldn’t dare to undertake.
MANAGING A POPULATION IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT
Fortunately, the marine animal rescue team from the New England Aquarium picked up the first turtle sighted on Wollaston Beach in Quincy, in order to identify it. But the second turtle was spotted later in the week, and softshell turtles have also been seen in New York and Maryland. (They’re already established in Hawaii, California, and Virginia.) Hopefully researchers can keep the potentially invasive species from running too much amok in local ecosystems. And if the problem does get out of hand, well, hopefully these turtles can take the Patriots down with the rest of New England.
