RSAP assisted Eckerd College’s Herpetology Club

Rainbow Springs Aquatic Preserve assisted Eckerd College’s Herpetology Club with their 26th year of turtle population and health assessment research on the Rainbow River. Within two hours, students collected 103 turtles including 43 loggerhead musk, 4 common musk, 39 Suwannee cooters, 8 Florida cooters, 6 Florida redbellies, and 3 Florida softshell turtles. The oldest recapture of the day was a female Suwannee cooter first captured in August 2005. The turtle populations and their health remain in good standing.