Male Spotted Turtle (Clemmys gutata)
Meet one of our locals, the spotted turtle (Clemmys gutata), better known and identified by the Turtle Journal team as  #5 .  Number 5 is an old friend and an inhabitant of Marion’s abandoned Goldwitz cranberry bog and surrounding woodlands, meadows and pools.
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Release of Male Spotted Turtle in Goldwitz Bog
An 11-year-old male,  Number 5 drops into the defunct cranberry bog each spring in active pursuit of breeding females. Spotted turtles mate during the spring months of March, April and May. We found #5 crawling along the bottom probably looking for companionship. In 2006, we found #5 swimming along the same area; in 2007, #5 he was basking in the sun on the bank above.   Â
Sporting beautiful yellow dots that allow him to blend in perfectly with bog vegetation, #5 has managed to grow from 135 grams in 2006 to 145 grams today. His slow growth pattern confirms the small size of this turtle species.
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Males and females are easily distinguished. Notice this young male’s large tail, his concave plastron, and dull brown eyes and chin. Spotteds express sexual dichromatism with females having brightly colored chins and orange eyes. Females also sport a flat plastron and thin, smaller tail. Spotteds tend to be a smaller turtle, growing no larger than 5 inches.
Over the protest of environmentalists, spotted turtles were delisted in the state of Massachusetts in 2006 although loss of wetlands habitat seems to be reducing their numbers.