PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Apollo, a green sea turtle, is back home after a nearly five-month stint at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
CMA says Apollo arrived at its facility on March 1 after being brought in for being lethargic and underweight. The turtle was also covered in barnacles indicating that he had been sick for a while.
While in CMA's care, Apollo underwent surgery for "fibropapllioma," or FP, which causes tumor growth. His surgery went well, allowing him to return back to the open water.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, FP is a debilitating disease that impacts sea turtles in Florida and many other parts of the world.
If the turtle's tumors grow too large, it can cause complications with swimming, vision, feeding and potential escape from predators.
The FWC says that for an unknown reason, FP is found more frequently in green turtles than any other species.
Currently, all green turtle populations are listed as either endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
According to NOAA, the primary threats facing green sea turtles include getting caught in commercial and recreational fishing gear, direct killing of turtles and harvest of eggs, vessel strikes, loss and alteration of nesting habitat, degradation and loss of foraging habitat, and entanglement in or ingestion of marine debris.
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