By Peter Vankevich
While driving on NC 12 near the airport earlier this spring, I noticed a dark small object in the road. As I suspected, it was a turtle. I quickly turned around, picked it up and let it down near the marsh grasses across the highway where it was headed. Running late for an appointment, I quickly took a phone photo of it and went on my way. Only later when I looked at it did I realize it was a spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata).
This blackish turtle gets it name by having yellow spots, rarely from none at all to up to 100 which appear on the carapace (upper shell), the head, neck and limbs. Each turtle has a unique pattern and number of yellow spots on its shell and skin as is demonstrated with the two individuals photographed on Ocracoke. These spot patterns are used by some researchers to identify and track individual turtles over time.
The evolutionary reasons for the yellow spots in these turtles are not fully understood, but they may serve as form of camouflage mimicking dappled sunlight filtering through water and vegetation which helps them blend into their environment.
The male has a tan chin, brown eyes, and a long, thick tail. The chin of the female is yellow, has orange eyes and a shorter tail than the male. Females tend to have slightly more spots than males. The yellow spots are somewhat larger in individuals residing in the northern range.
It is one of North Carolina’s smallest turtles at slightly under 5 inches of the length of the carapace (the shell). Only the rare bog turtle found in the western areas of the state is smaller. The spotted turtle’s habitats throughout most of the Coastal Plain and eastern Piedmont are marshes, wet pastures, Carolina bays, ditches and slow moving streams. They tolerate slightly brackish waters, particularly in coastal areas like Ocracoke where freshwater and saltwater mix.
Their wider North America range includes Maine and southeastern Ontario and westward across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, northern Indiana and Michigan to northeastern Illinois. They appear along the Atlantic Coastal Plain down to central Florida.
Like many turtle species worldwide, they have experienced serious declines in many areas due to habitat loss and fragmentation from road construction that isolates populations and makes it harder to find a mate. Another reason for their decline is linked to chemical pollution of pesticides, fertilizers, and agricultural and industrial runoff. This pollution can affect the turtles directly or harm the plants and animals they rely on for food.
As with the case of the diamondback terrapin, the invasive plant Phragmites (Phragmites australis) also known as common reed can be a threat to spotted turtles. This aggressive plant can form dense, monocultural stands in wetland habitats, negatively impact water flow and quality, displace native plants and take over the turtles basking sites and nesting areas.
They are listed as a threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Because of their small size and bright yellow markings, thousands were reported to be taken by commercial collectors in the pet trade in the 1990s which was legal at the time, according to Jeffrey C. Beane, collections manager for Herpetology at the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences.
A similar fate of overharvesting occurred to the diamondback terrapin when in the late 19th century, it became fashionable to serve turtle soup in fancy restaurants. The trend died with Prohibition because sherry, then outlawed, was a necessary ingredient for the delicacy. It took years for the terrapin to make a comeback.
Now, commercial collecting of turtles is illegal in North Carolina except for snapping, mud and musk turtles.
You are not as likely to encounter this turtle as of some of the others that frequently bask in the sun off South Point Road or walk on land like eastern box turtles and snapping turtles.
This secretive turtle spends much of its time hiding under aquatic vegetation and is quick to flee if disturbed.
But as with the turtle rescued on May 1, they are more likely to be seen in the spring as females search for suitable dry habitat to lay their eggs and this is the time they are susceptible to being run over by vehicles. Due to their small size, even the best of drivers conscientious of road-crossing turtles, may not notice them.
These turtles lay usually 3-4 eggs and the incubation period is around 77 days. Under the best of circumstances, they may live up to 50 years in the wild. Omnivores, their diet includes both animal and plant matter such as tadpoles, small fish, insects, worms, snails and algae and other plant material.
Beane noted that the first published report of a spotted turtle on Ocracoke was in 1942 by William L. Engels who spent several weeks in 1940 and ’41 surveying the vertebrate fauna of the island. He reported the species to be common here.
An Ocracoke spotted turtle specimen can be found in the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, collected in 1973 and another in the North Carolina State Museum in Raleigh.
Because they are in habitats with lots of vegetation, it is difficult to know how many are on Ocracoke these days. Islander Ruth Fordon photographed one along South Point Road on June 20, 2023, a notable date for her since that was also the day that she, with others, found a leatherback sea turtle nest on the island.
“We’re always interested in records of amphibians and reptiles on Ocracoke because the island is not that well surveyed for amphibians,” said Beane.
You can send photos of amphibians and reptiles (but no anoles) to him at jeff.beane@naturalsciences.org. Include the date and the precise locality (coordinates if possible), date and observer.
Several people concerned about turtles contacted me during a brief drought when the wetlands were drier than usual, especially along South Point Road.
Turtles have developed various adaptations to withstand severe droughts when water sources dry up.
These include reducing activity to conserve energy, finding a cool, damp place to hide and remain inactive until conditions improve and if prolonged, burrowing into the ground and entering a state of dormancy known as estivation.
