Janet Hardin asked:

>What is the status of aquatic turtles in Union Bay/Lake Washington?

As far as I can tell, from many many kayaking visits, only painted turtles
(Chrysemys picta belli) and red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans,
in genus Pseudemys in many books) are prevalent in the area, or, I should
say, they are only species I've seen, and I check out all basking turtles
with binocs. As far as we know, both are introduced from elsewhere. I
wouldn't even be surprised if there were painted turtles of eastern
subspecies there, from the days turtles were available in every pet store,
but I haven't seen any for sure.

Painted turtles are common in eastern WA, and the Seattle ones may have
been introduced from there. Red-eared sliders are from east-central North
America, in the southern Great Plains and Mississippi Valley (other
subspecies in Southeast and Mexico), and they have always been among the
most common of pet-store turtles. They are in the minority in Union Bay,
and I haven't seen any young enough to convince me they are breeding there.
Turtles live an awfully long time, so released captives can persist for
decades, seeming to indicate a population but not reproducing. Of course,
young turtles are lot harder to see than adults, and the smallest ones
don't bask very much (perhaps too susceptible to predators, perhaps because
they don't need to bask to digest their mostly animal diet).

Years ago I saw from Montlake Fill, with binoculars, what I was sure was a
Pacific pond turtle (Clemmys marmorata), now an endangered species in WA.
This species is medium brown, with a fairly light brown head with black
spots, not like any other turtle that would be in the area. I've never
seen one there since. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a released pet
rather than indicating a remnant population (got that, Kelly McAllister?).

Parenthetically, one of the more disgusting things in our history was the
wholesale collection and sale of baby turtles for years and years, mostly
from the lower Mississippi valley (you could tell this because of the
species involved). People dug up nests and hatched the eggs by the
thousands and thousands, then sold the very young turtles, the vast
majority of which perished (or--just about as bad--were kept until they had
lost their baby cuteness and then released in the local lake). I'm so glad
this has been stopped (at least I think it has).

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416