Turtle Journal

Gopher Tortoise: “Where’s the Party?”

No self-respecting troglodyte turtle can resist the rumbling beat of a Southwest Florida beach party.  With the moniker “Gopherus polyphemus,” gopher tortoises certainly fall within this cadre.  Named after Homer’s mythical, cave-dwelling Cyclops Polyphemus who confronted Odysseus and his crew, the gopher tortoises of Naples occupy some of the finest burrows in the New World; caves that would be the envy of any Greek god or goddess.

Burrow with Sea Breeze and View

Examples of these elegant accommodations can be found anywhere along the Naples coastline.  This especially appealing burrow offers a turtle’s eye view of Gulf Coast sunsets each night and is air conditioned by a steady sea breeze.  Shading vegetation creates a comfortable atmosphere for siestas during the heat of the day and offers tasty snacks within easy neck reach. 

Gopher Tortoise Walks the Rope Line at Vanderbilt Beach

As you stroll Vandebilt Beach, don’t be surprised to encounter rope lines along gopher tortoise habitat.  At first we thought these barriers were erected to keep humans from interfering with turtles.  But as you can clearly see from the photo above, it’s the tortoises who walk the straight and narrow, so as not to interupt the beach fun of frolicking tourists.

Gopher Tortoise High Rent District by the Ritz Carlton

Location, location, location!  The real high rent district for Southwest Florida’s gopher tortoises lies within burrowing distance of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Naples.  For an earlier adventure with these upscale tortoises, see Gopher Tortoises “Puttin on the Ritz” in Naples, Florida.

Gopher Tortoise Taking Mid-Morning Siesta

March 12th proved another perfect Florida day with a bright cloudless sky and temperatures in the low 80s.  Exploring Vanderbilt Beach, Sue Wieber Nourse spotted a large gopher tortoise in a burrow near the Ritz Carlton catching a few z’s during a mid-morning siesta.  Suddenly, a sensuous Gulf breeze wafted the jazzy melody of party music from the Ritz beach.  Apparently irresistible to a reptile’s ear, the rumbling beat seemed to lift the turtle from its lazy snooze and to tug this tortoise in the direction of the tented cabanas.

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Gopher Tortoise Crashes Ritzy Beach Party

With neither angst nor doubt, tortoise pursued the rhythm.  Cutting through dense underbrush, dodging tourists and beach crews, the turtle danced onward until its path was blocked by bottles and boxes and tools.  It lay in quiet frustration for a few minutes before its rescue by the Turtle Journal team.

Tortoise “Card Check”

Since the turtle had crashed the beach party, it seemed appropriate for a casual “card check” to ensure that we weren’t serving the underaged.  A quick look at its annual growth lines showed that the tortoise more than qualified for adult status.

Party Gopher Tortoise

Lifted out of its “boxed” canyon trap, the tortoise resumed its upbeat strut as it headed back towards the seductive quietude of its burrow.  Beach parties are okay, but in moderation to be sure.

 

Aggregation of Cownose Rays off Vanderbilt Beach

Every Turtle Journal expedition into the field seems to produce a new surprise.  After more than three decades of exploration of the Southwest Florida coastline, one might expect the frequency of surprises to taper off.  But alas, they wonderfully keep occurring … which keeps us fully alert and engaged as we lug our gear down to the beach for a morning stroll.  March 10th and 11th dawned bright and warm with daytime temperature stretching into the 80s.  As Sue Wieber Nourse walked the Vanderbilt Beach shore in front of the Naples Ritz Carlton, she was thrilled to find a mass aggregation of cownose rays (Rhinoptera bonasus) sailing along the beach in knee deep water. 

Cownose Ray (Rhinoptera bonasus)

The cownose ray, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Ichthyology site, derives its scientific name (Rhinoptera) from the Greek “rhinos” for nose and “pteron” for wing.  Clearly, its “nose” represents the ray’s most distinctive and identifying feature.  Cownose rays can be found all along the Atlantic coastline from here in Cape Cod to the tip of Florida, as well as the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.

Cownose Rays Fly Along Naples Coastline

While the cownose ray is a pelagic or ocean-going fish, it can be found along the warm, shallow coastline.  They are known to be gregarious, which may account for the mass aggregation Sue witnessed at Vanderbilt Beach.  They are benthic feeders, but also forage along the shoreline and in bays and estuaries.  Their menu includes quite a smorgasbord of critters from bivalves and gastropods to crabs, lobsters and finfish.

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Cownose Ray Aggregation off Vanderbilt Beach in Naples

Sue observed foraging activity close into the shoreline on both March 10th and 11th, as well as non-foraging behavior in slightly deeper water.  She saw this massive group swim both north and then south along Vanderbilt Beach at various times during the morning, rather than in a single direction as one might expect in a migration.

Cownose Rays

Whatever the cause  of this mass aggregation, the sight of such majestic fish sailing effortless through the surf created a sensation for gawking tourists who had similarly flocked to Vanderbilt Beach to take advantage of these warm March days and to forage the coastal restaurants for fare ranging from “bivalves and gastropods to crabs, lobsters and finfish.”  I guess when you probe to the very gut of the matter there’s not too much difference among species.

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Southwest Florida Dolphins

While documenting the cownose rays, Sue was pleasantly surprised by a pod of dolphins that joined in the fun.  An overly curious juvenile dolphin broke from the pod and swam directly up to Sue to investigate what she was doing.  A perfect punctuate to a perfect Southwest Florida morning.

 

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Welcome to Southwest Florida

The Turtle Journal team recently completed an expedition to Southwest Florida.  For the next few weeks, we will bring you on virtual adventures to discover the critters and the habitat of the Southwest Florida coast, from Naples in the north to the Everglades in the south.  We will, as usual, intersperse these posting with real-time events out here in the Land of Ooze as the Great White North begins its annual spring awakening.