Eastern Spiny Softshell (Apalone spinifera spinifera)

Created: August 7th, 2017 - 09:45 AM
Last Modified: August 7th, 2017 - 09:45 AM Posted anonymously
Record 284934

Country: United States		State: California	County: San Diego County	Time: 2017-08-06 16:00:00
Qty: 1	Age: Adult	Sex: --	Method: Visual encounter	Habitat: -----
Body Temperature: -----		Air Temperature: 80.00F	Ground Temperature: 80.00F	Humidity: 50%
Sky Conditions: Clear		Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent	Elevation: -----	Barometric Pressure: -----

Notes

Eastlake is a man-made lake that is in the middle of a quite densely populated suburban area. It is not a large lake. It is at most 5 feet deep and is probably about a mile's walk around. The lake area is inhabited by numerous birds, lizards and small fish. People swimming is restricted to one fenced off lagoon area, which was some distance away from the location of this sighting. We have noticed this year has been a banner year for turtles. I have seen more this year than any other since I began living here in 2009. This day, we noticed this turtle swimming in the lake, much larger and quite unlike any of the red eared sliders normally seen. We saw it swimming at a distance of perhaps 15 feet from the banks of the lake, and we were standing at a somewhat elevated location, so we had quite a good view of it. Its shell was perhaps 2 feet in diameter and round, almost like a pancake. Its color was paler than the other turtles, and the carapace was smooth, with no plates. Again unlike the other turtles, this one had a very long neck and long snout, and its fore feet were very large, with the toes splayed widely. It was content to rest near the surface among several other turtles, but at some distance from them. It did not poke its head out of the water the way the red eared sliders do...it only poked the tip of its nose out of the water. This is the second time we have seen this turtle. The last time we saw it, which was about a month or two ago, it was further out from the banks and we couldn't see it as well as we could today. I believe it is the only one of its kind in this lake. I suspect it may have been someone's pet grown too large and so was released into the lake.