In January this year, Mr. Chen, a resident of Jingjiang, caught a rare turtle on the Yangtze River and weighed 8 kilograms, which attracted a lot of attention in the circle of friends. The turtle has an oval back, a white belly and a body length of about 40 cm. In terms of body size, this turtle can be called "a special thing in turtles", which is significantly larger than the common Chinese turtle in China, and the specification gap is not a little bit.
However, the expert's identification surprised Mr. Chen: this is not a native turtle in the Yangtze River, but an invasive species from the United States, scientifically known as the Florida turtle, also known as the American mountain turtle and pearl turtle.
Compared to the Chinese turtle, the Florida turtle grows faster and is larger, and it is easy to misunderstand its age. For example, in May 2021, villagers in Ping County, Nanyang Town, Henan Province, captured a giant turtle with a body length of more than half a meter and a weight of 46 kilograms. Many villagers call it a "century-old turtle", which is very rare in size! In the end, the villagers made what they thought was "proper": the giant turtle was released to the local Zhao Wan Reservoir.
In fact, the 46-pound Florida turtle is far from reaching the "100-year-old." First of all, this turtle was first introduced to Xiamen in mainland China in 1993, and it has only been 30 years, and the time of the turtle's introduction to Henan is even later, so the "centennial giant turtle" is actually a "young turtle" within 30 years of age. Secondly, the Florida turtle long meat is very fast, under breeding conditions can gain more than 4 pounds per year, the maximum weight increase can reach 10 pounds, it is entirely possible to grow to 40 pounds in 5 to 8 years.
One notable phenomenon is that Florida turtles found everywhere are often "re-released". In late November 2021, an angler in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, caught a 30-pound old turtle in the Liuxi River, and passers-by saw what they called "the turtle of the Zhenhe River" and urged the anglers to release it. In the end, the giant turtle was bought for a high price of 1200 yuan, which is said to be a blessing for release.
As an exotic species, why are Florida turtles frequently released?
The reason is twofold. First, the Florida turtle and the native Chinese turtle look similar, many people lack professional identification knowledge, can not "see through" the true identity of the foreign turtle at a glance; second, the turtle turtle has a lofty position in the traditional culture of the mainland, implying auspiciousness and longevity, and the release of turtles and turtles has also become a folk custom.
The ancients enshrined "dragons, phoenixes, lins, and turtles" as the "four spirits", and the only animals that actually existed in the "four spirits" were turtles (including turtles). Therefore, turtle and tortoise species naturally receive special preferential treatment. There is a record in the "History of the Turtle Celie": "Turtle, the treasure of the world", and folk legends have "dragon turtle", "god turtle", "spirit turtle" and other titles, such descriptions are difficult to describe. It can be seen that it is not unfounded that turtles and turtles are popular with releasers.
In naturally distributed waters, the moderate release of native turtle species is understandable, but for florida turtles, release is a harmful behavior, which is not conducive to the balance of natural ecology. If the foreign turtles achieve natural reproduction, the result is to continuously crowd out and replace the domestic native turtle species, and the "release" of goodwill will become a disguised "killing".
In fact, the Florida turtle's entry into wild waters "has long been foreshadowed." From 2004 to 2006, there was a boom in the cultivation of Florida turtles in China, and the hot consumption drove the demand for breeding, and the scale of breeding ushered in an unprecedented prosperity.
A 2009 paper revealed the popularity of the Florida turtle: At that time, 16 provinces and regions on the mainland, including Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, used it as the main commercial turtle, and the frequency of cultivation was comparable to that of Chinese turtle. Florida turtle has near-perfect breeding characteristics: easy to survive, fast growth, short sexual maturity cycle, not easy to produce diseases, these advantages directly hit the "breeding pain points" of Chinese turtles.
More importantly, the nutritional value and taste of the Florida turtle are superior, and there is a thick connective tissue around the dorsal nail, which is called "skirt" because of its sagging shape, and the taste is extremely delicious. Compared with the Chinese turtle, the "skirt" of the Florida turtle is more developed, and the nutritional value and medicinal value are also superior, so the market heat is very high. For the sake of efficiency, many farmers choose to withdraw from the Chinese turtle market and turn to the gold rush of foreign turtles.
In recent years, Florida turtles have a great momentum of "catching up later", and there are hidden concerns in aquaculture management. For farmers, the Florida turtle is a "treasure", but in the wild environment, it is a big hidden danger. The turtle is highly adaptable, greedy, can lay eggs 3 times a year, each time can lay 20 to 30 pieces, and there is no natural enemy in nature, ecological harm can not be ignored.
According to reports, the locations where the turtle species have been found in China have been in the Waters of the Pearl River in the Guangzhou section, the Yongjiang River in Nanning, and the Huating Lake in Songjiang in Shanghai. In addition, wild Florida turtles have been found in the Jiangsu section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, a community in Wenzhou, and Sihong County in Suqian.
The most worrying thing is the Yellow River. The Yellow River provides the "water of life" for the northwest and north China, and is an important axis for the mainland to develop its inland economy. The protection of the ecological resources of the Yellow River has been highly valued by the mainland, and the south-to-north water diversion project (which has not yet started) is to solve the problem of water shortage and ecological deterioration of the Yellow River. Today, however, the Yellow River is heavily infested by exotic species, and the Florida turtle is one of them.
According to the Yellow River Fisheries Research Institute, there are 41 species of alien aquatic organisms that have invaded the Yellow River Basin, of which 17 species have adapted to the water environment of the Yellow River. Residents of the Yellow River Basin have repeatedly spotted unfamiliar turtles and tortoises: in June 2009, a 13-pound alligator turtle was found in a ditch on the Aiyi River in Yinchuan City, and in the same year, a Florida turtle was caught in the Xun River in Xi'an City.
Zhang Hongxing and other scholars pointed out that the ecological environment of the Yellow River is diverse, the middle reaches of the river are wide, there are large areas of water and wetlands, and animal and plant resources are abundant. In particular, wetland areas such as Jiangxin Island and swamps can provide important habitats and breeding sites for fish, amphibians and reptiles. This natural environment is superior to the origin of the Florida turtle, and it is also more suitable for the breeding and habitat of this species and the expansion of the population.
Numerous reports have shown that the survival of Florida turtles in the wild has become an indisputable fact. The turtle's appearance in the Yellow River is not a good thing, which may mean that the survival ability of the species is improving, the distribution range is becoming wider, and it needs to be strengthened.
There are also fears that Florida turtles will flood the country. This view is not out of thin air, as precedents are already set abroad.
In 1978, about 900,000 Florida turtles "settled" in Spain, and the original intention of the introduction was to develop the farming economy. Due to poor control and serious escape accidents on farms, these American turtles have multiplied rapidly in Spanish rivers and lakes, so that they have become notorious "ecological killers" and seriously threaten the survival of local indigenous species.
So, is there also a possibility of flooding of Florida turtles in The country? From the current distribution status, the distribution of Florida turtle shows a situation of "blooming everywhere", the Pearl River, yangtze River and Yellow River basin are involved; from the source of hidden dangers, the wrong release behavior still exists, which brings difficulties to the comprehensive removal of foreign turtles; from the perspective of ecological habits, Florida turtles are undoubtedly a "fierce role". Therefore, the possibility of the flooding of this species exists, but it needs to be continued to be observed.
The invasion of alien species can be divided into four processes: invasion, settlement, adaptation, and spread. At present, the domestic Florida turtle is in the stage of settlement and adaptation, and there is no sign of large-scale spread. Usually, once an alien species has reached the diffusion stage, it is very difficult to completely control it, for example, the crayfish introduced from the mainland are in the diffusion period.
In the 1930s, crayfish were first introduced in Nanjing, Jiangsu, but they have been tepid and "inactive". Until the beginning of this century, crayfish suddenly exploded in China, the "rice field shrimp farming" model was vigorously promoted along the Yangtze River, and the distribution of crayfish also spread all the way from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the middle reaches, and has now reached Sichuan and Chongqing.
In 2019, the national crayfish production reached 2.089 million tons, more than 310 times that of the 1990s, and crayfish were found and farmed in more than 20 provinces and municipalities across the country. Due to the local flooding of wild populations, the Yangtze River embankments, paddy field landscapes (such as the Hani Rice Terraces in Yunnan) and a nature reserve in the southwest are threatened by crayfish, and the natural environment is deeply affected.
Will Florida turtles, like crayfish, invade the wild and form populations as farming is promoted? To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the management of escape prevention in the breeding area, and the general public should also develop a scientific concept of release and learn to distinguish between foreign turtles and native turtles.
Chinese turtle
In the case of the Florida turtle and the Chinese turtle, the difference between the two is mainly: 1, body shape. The former is larger, the average weight of male turtles is more than 5 pounds, the adult female turtle is larger, the average is more than 13 pounds, the large can reach 40 to 80 pounds, while the Chinese turtle is generally only 2 to 3 pounds; 2, warts. The Florida turtle, also known as the pearl turtle, has a row of pearl-like wart-like bumps near the neck of the dorsal carapace, and the anterior edge of the Chinese turtle dorsal carapace is very smooth and has no convexity. 3, "skirt". The skirt of the Florida turtle is larger and fatter than that of the Chinese turtle.
In conclusion, the breeding and invasion status of Florida turtles is still under observation and will not flood any time soon. If you find a Florida turtle in the wild next time, don't blindly release it, harmless treatment is the most appropriate way.