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oai:figshare.com:article/34053912 2026-10-02T04:40:46Z category_62 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_10_2026

Table 3_Abundance, distribution, and origins of hawksbill sea turtles on the nearshore Atlantic reefs of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.xlsx Lawrence D. Wood (16415949) Liberty L. Boyd (25161927) Christopher R. Nolte (25161930) Emily Skinner (71184) Gianna Fanelli (25161933) David J. Duffy (9294971) Marine Biology Florida Keys growth rates hawksbill mixed stock analysis sea turtle Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) representing multiple regional stocks are known to reside in SE Florida, and play an important functional role in the health of coral reef ecosystems. However, baseline data concerning the abundance and distribution of hawksbills in the Florida Keys are lacking. Between 2015-2024, over 280 hours of in-water snorkeling surveys on the shallow coral reefs (<10 m) in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) from Key Largo (25.4276N, 80.1246W) through Key West (24.4463N, 81.9268W) resulted in the hand-capture of 76 hawksbill turtles (mean straight carapace length 39.3 cm (range 19.3 - 63.5 cm). Growth rates among re-captured turtles averaged 6.3 cm yr-1 (range 2.5-10.2 cm yr-1, n = 12). Among the seventeen distinct Caribbean haplotypes identified via mtDNA, mixed-stock analyses revealed a significant but weakening bias toward representatives of Mexican rookeries coupled with indications of increasing diversity over time. It is apparent the shallow reefs of the FKNMS represent valuable entry points for post oceanic-stage hawksbills establishing themselves in the State’s neritic habitats and should be regarded as critical to sustaining the long-term presence of this highly imperiled species in Florida waters. 2026-10-02T04:40:46Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fmars.2026.1953931.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Table_3_Abundance_distribution_and_origins_of_hawksbill_sea_turtles_on_the_nearshore_Atlantic_reefs_of_the_Florida_Keys_National_Marine_Sanctuary_xlsx/34053912 CC BY 4.0