In February 2020, the National Aquarium reported the sudden loss of its beloved female green sea turtle, Calypso.
Calypso, estimated to be 22 years old at the time of her death, had been an iconic member of the National Aquarium family for almost twenty years. In 2000, she stranded in the Long Island Sound, and weighed just 6 pounds when she was rescued by the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. A life-threatening infection of Calypso's front left flipper required amputation and, at the time, she was deemed non-releasable by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 2002, she was transferred to the National Aquarium for long-term care. For the next two decades, Calypso was a central figure for Aquarium staff, volunteers and guests, serving as an important ambassador for animal rescue and the conservation of endangered sea turtles worldwide.
Calypso received routine medical exams as part of her ongoing care here, and her bloodwork and ultrasound findings in both the summer and winter of 2019 were normal. The following is a summary of the findings from the necropsy (animal autopsy) produced by our consulting pathologists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine:
- Overall, Calypso was in very good body condition with no excess body fat.
- At the time of her acute decline, Calypso had about 300 egg follicles. This is a normal amount for a sea turtle of her age.
- There was also some free-floating egg yolk material found in her abdominal cavity; this can also be normal, but there was evidence of this material in the heart and blood vessels. This material is very inflammatory and can lead to sudden death (almost the equivalent of a stroke). Because of the acute nature of her decline, it is hard to determine if this was the cause of death or contamination during the necropsy process.
- Some cardiac and renal tissue fibrosis was noted. The initial stranding event that resulted in Calypso's rescue could be an underlying cause of this deterioration of tissue given the acute physiological stress she endured at that time. This has been observed in other rescued sea turtles.
- Her amputated limb was in good condition with no abnormalities on the joint. There was some cartilage build-up on her other front limb joint, which is to be expected given that she relied heavily on that flipper to swim.
These findings will be shared with our peers in the animal health and research fields to help contribute to the shared knowledge of sea turtle health.
We will continue to honor Calypso's legacy through our work rehabilitating and releasing rescued sea turtles, giving them a better chance at survival in the wild.