3 loggerhead sea turtles tracked by OCEARCH ping off NC coast Sunday morning

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NAGS HEAD, N.C. (WNCN) — Two weeks after a great white shark pinged off the Outer Banks, more aquatic animals tracked by nonprofit research organization OCEARCH have surfaced in the waters off of North Carolina.

This time, they’re sea turtles.

According to OCEARCH data, three adult female loggerhead sea turtles pinged — meaning they surfaced long enough to emit a signal from their tracker — off the North Carolina coast Sunday morning.

The most recent one to ping is Brianna, a loggerhead who pinged off the Outer Banks between Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills at 10:09 a.m. Sunday. The adult female, who measures 3’5″ and weighs 295 pounds, first entered the waters off North Carolina about a week ago, according to her tracking data.

Less than an hour before Brianna surfaced Sunday, fellow loggerhead Pearl pinged at 9:29 a.m. off Cape Lookout. Pearl’s tracker shows the 3’4″, 259-pound turtle has spent the last 10 days swimming off of southeastern North Carolina.

Earlier Sunday morning, another adult female loggerhead also surfaced off Nags Head, not far from where Brianna is swimming around. Lemon Drop, who at 3’6″ and 323 pounds is the biggest of the trio, pinged at 7:48 a.m. Lemon Drop has also been in North Carolina waters for about 10 days, tracking data shows.

All three turtles were tagged in April by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Fla. after laying their first nests of the 2024 season. According to OCEARCH, Brianna, Pearl and Lemon Drop are all part of a “long-term study aimed at understanding loggerhead clutch frequency, or the number of nests a single female lays within one breeding season.”

The project was partially funded by the Sea Turtle Grants program, which uses proceeds from the sale of Florida Sea Turtle specialty license plates, OCEARCH said.

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Hannah Leyva

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