Volunteers checking sea turtle nests on a South Carolina beach came upon a rare sight: a white sea turtle hatchling crawling across the sand.
The town of Kiawah Island posted on its Facebook page that the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol found a lone white baby sea turtle that made its way to a public accessible beach.
Photos show a tiny turtle that is a creamy white color rather than the more typical gray or green of a sea turtle – or reddish brown in the case that this is a loggerhead turtle.
Officials say the hatchling may have been born with a genetic condition called leucism, which causes a reduction in pigment.
Volunteers checking sea turtle nests on a South Carolina beach came upon a rare sight: a white sea turtle hatchling crawling across the sand
‘Leucism is different from albinism, as albino animals have a complete loss of pigment, leaving them completely white with red or pink eyes,’ town officials posted.
The town of Kiawah Island posted on its Facebook page that the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol found a lone white baby sea turtle that made its way to a public accessible beach
Photos show a tiny turtle that is a creamy white color rather than the more typical gray or green of a sea turtle – or reddish brown in the case that this is a loggerhead turtle
‘Camouflage is important to all animals, particularly very small sea turtle hatchlings that are predated on by almost everything,’ reads a Facebook post.
‘So, to be born white makes you stand out and very visible to predators.’
The condition is described as extremely rare, but it is not clear exactly how often such turtles are found in the wild
Earlier this month, deep-sea fishers pulled an all-white shark off the coast of Britain near the Isle of Wight, which has the same genetic disorder as the hatchling found in South Carolina
Jason Gillespie, 50, was deep-sea fishing with some friends when he caught a three-foot long tope shark that was entirely white.
