Fisherman snags 'humped back' sea turtle off Taiwan's coast

Want China Times, CNA 2015-04-18

The humped back sea turtle, April 16. (Photo/CNS)

A Taitung fisherman caught an unusual looking "humped back" sea turtle in waters off the southeastern coast of Taiwan on Wednesday.

The fisherman, Tien Cheng-yung, said he was fishing in waters off Pingtung and Taitung counties when he unexpectedly pulled up a heavy turtle that had an unusually shaped shell.

Tien said his first thought was "why does it look like this?" He said he had unintentionally caught turtles before but had never seen one with a humped shell.

Tien said he shot a video of the creature with the humped back and then released it back into the sea.

When he showed the video to other veteran fishermen on Thursday, they were all amazed and said it was the first time they had seen a "humped back" turtle, Tien said.

A photo of the turtle showed its shell was shaped like a traditional Chinese farmer's hat.

Cheng I-Jiunn, a marine biology professor at National Taiwan Ocean University, said it appeared from the photo to be a regular green sea turtle species that probably had been raised in captivity or on a farm and was later abandoned or had escaped.

The unusual shape of its shell may have resulted from living in a small space, which would have forced the turtle to grow "upward," making it appear to be "humped back," he said.