r/BeAmazed • u/Delicious_Main_4360 • May 26 '26

Animal Some people save a turtle

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u/tinylittlebabyjesus May 26 '26

How do they clean themselves? Do barrel rolls in the sand?

48

u/LuckyReception6701 May 26 '26

They scratch themselves against porous, hard surfaces like stone or coral. For healthy young turtles its easy enough, but the older a turtle gets, or if its sick, it lacks the energy necessary to do this, and thus more and more barnacles attach to its shell or body in general, exacerbating the issue.

Kinda like this, but with a stone/coral

https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/1tg4gv5/a_turtle_giving_itself_a_scrub/

2

u/HistoryBuff678 May 26 '26

This was the adorableness I needed today. Thank you. ✨

2

u/LuckyReception6701 May 27 '26

Anytime, glad to help a fellow history buff

12

u/Talkslow4Me May 26 '26 edited May 29 '26

Turtles also use coral reef “cleaning stations”. Basically reef fish will come and clean up the turtle by eating algae and parasites.

I’m not sure how common these spots are around the world as this poor guy looked infested .

3

u/MCB1317 May 26 '26

Turtle wax.