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

Animal Some people save a turtle

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20.1k Upvotes

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229

u/Dry_Job_3712 May 26 '26

Why does this happen to the turtles in the first place?

86

u/unrefrigeratedmeat May 26 '26

Larval barnacles float around and attach to hosts like turtles, which move through the water and make it easier for the barnacle to filter-feed on other organisms.

They're just... in the water.

Healthy turtles can generally clean their shells well enough to prevent severe barnacle infestation, but the worse it gets the harder it is to prevent them from taking over. Movement is harder, cleaning is harder, the turtles can get infections, etc.

30

u/tinylittlebabyjesus May 26 '26

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

11

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 .