The Crucians Of Sandy Point By Susan Basford and Robert Brandner Directors, Principal Investigators Leatherback Recovery Project Sandy Point, St. Croix Did you know that there is a population of Crucians that only go to the beach at night? These Crucians will go to the beach 5 10 times during the summer, disappear 2 3 years, and return again to repeat the process. Males, however, never come out of the water at all! Who are these Crucians? They are Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea). We call them Crucians because it is believed by many turtle researchers that when female leatherback turtles reach sexual maturity and breed they return to the beaches where they were born, to lay their eggs, continuing their repro- ductive cycle. The eggs of many leatherbacks are laid on St. Croix beaches, with hatchlings emerging and heading for the sea. For the males this is the only time they will ever be on the land, since they live their entire lives as aquatic ani- mals. The turtles leave the warm Caribbean water as adults migrating to the Northern waters of of Labrador and New- foundland, but juveniles disappear and are almost never encountered. Mature females head back to St. Croix to deposit the eggs, eventually digging several nests at 10-day intervals, and by August will have started their circular migration North again not to return for 2-3 years, if at all. The hatchling leatherbacks, 3 inches in length, emerge in the dark of night, find the sea and will not be seen again until they are 8000 times their original size. Leatherback Sea Turtles are an endangered species, just as are all sea turtles. Before management procedures can be developed to protect their population, it is imperative to discover as much as possible about the ecology of these magnificent animals. For this reason, the St. Croix group is of particular importance. The small local population has been extensively studied over the past several years, and is considered the largest nesting aggregation in the U.S. and Northern Caribbean waters. At the same time, it is a small enough group to permit long-term intensive data collec- tion on the breeding biology and ecology of individual females. The necessary date is collected by a small staff of biolo- gists on contract to the Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife, who sponsor this research, and with the help of 8 teams of Earthwatch volunteers (Earthwatch is a non-profit organization that matches up lay people with scientific field projects that need extra hands).The volunteers pay for their own transportation, room and board, and agree to work 10 hours per night for 10 days. With staff,they patrol a 11/2 mile beach study area on Sandy Point at hourly intervals from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. This allows researchers to collect data on every turtle during the nesting season. When a turtle is seen on the beach, a data sheet is compiled, with informa- tion regarding time, weather, location, the animal's activity, her length and width, presence or absence of ectobiota, and any other distinguishing characteristics she may have. Weights can sometimes be taken by using a tripod with a Turtlewatch crew are on hand as female excavates her nest.