CLEARWATER, FL — With the 2019 sea turtle nesting season underway, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium is keeping a close watch on one special nest.

A rare Kemp's ridley sea turtle has made a nest at an undisclosed location on a Clearwater beach. Listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the Kemp's ridley sea turtle faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future, according to the Sea Turtle Conservancy.



Beach combers happened to stumble up the nest on May 9, nine days after the start of the nesting season, which runs through Oct. 31. They immediately alerted the aquarium, which roped off the nest and posted a sign warning the public not to enter the area. "Kemp's ridleys are critically endangered, and the rarest sea turtle in the world," announced the aquarium in a Facebook post. "It is rare that they nest on the beaches in our area, so this is remarkable."



Kemp's ridley sea turtles inhabit the Gulf of Mexico and the western North Atlantic Ocean, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Its major nesting beaches are in an area called Rancho Nuevo on Mexico's Gulf coast and on Padre Island in Texas, which documents between 150 and 350 Kemp's ridley turtle nests annually. However, they can be found occasionally on Florida beaches. There are only 7,000 to 9,000 nesting females in the world. Females nest every one to three years and lay an average of 110 eggs in each nest, which incubate for about 55 days.

The Kemp's ridley is named after Richard Kemp, who helped discover and study the turtle. No one is sure why it is called ridley, possibly due to having similar nesting behavior as the olive ridley sea turtle found in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Adults have a dark gray-green carapace while the hatchlings are jet black. The average length of an adult carapace is about 2 feet and adults weigh between 70 and 108 pounds.

They have powerful jaws that allow them to crush and consume crabs, clams, mussels and shrimp. They also dine on fish, sea urchins, squid and jellyfish.

In the meantime, two Loggerhead sea turtle nests were discovered by turtle watchers on Madeira Beach Wednesday and marked with warning signs. Loggerheads are the most common sea turtle to nest in Pinellas County. The eggs in each nest will typically incubate for 50 to 60 days before hatching.