Sea Turtle Inc. releases 130 hatchlings into the Gulf

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A crowd of turtle lovers gathered at South Padre Island Thursday morning to say farewell to over 130 Kemp's Ridley sea turtle hatchlings.

Sea Turtle Inc. explains the cycle and process of caring for the hatchlings before they are released into the Gulf.

"What these mamas do is they crawl out of the Gulf. They'll deposit around 100 ping pong ball-sized eggs. The Mama will cover it up and head back out to the Gulf. That's when our team comes in," said Hannah Murray, Education Specialist with Sea Turtle Inc.

Sea Turtle Inc. assists by relocating the eggs to a protected corral and placing each egg into a manmade funnel-shaped hole to incubate and grow.

"We let them sit and incubate for about 45 to 60 days," Murray continued.

After the 45 to 60-day period, the turtles emerge from their eggs and are ready to be released into the ocean.

"They only have 24 hours worth of energy to make it to the Gulf, so when they are ready to when they do hatch, we have to release them quickly," Murray said.

As the hatchlings are released into the Gulf, they imprint on the sand to navigate back to the same beach where they were born to lay their eggs in the future. 

"They have a giant map in their head," Murray said. "When they are on the sand, they're using magnetite inside of their brain, which allows them to come back to the same beach where they were born to make a nest with us one day."