Junk food: Interspecific and intraspecific distinctions in marine debris ingestion by marine turtles

Highlights: • Marine debris ingestion by stranded green and loggerhead sea turtles was examined. • Debris were detected in 75% of green and 57.1% of loggerhead sea turtles. • In both species plastics were the predominant type of ingested marine debris. • Green turtles, particularly juveniles, incur highest risk of ingesting debris. The pervasiveness of marine debris is now considered one of the most persistent changes in marine environments. This study reports marine debris ingested by green sea turtles Chelonia mydas and loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta that stranded along the eastern coast of the Sharjah Emirate in the United Arab Emirates. We observed that both green and loggerhead sea turtles frequently ingest (Frequency of Occurrence: 75.0% and 57.1% respectively) high quantities of marine debris, particularly plastics. The results suggest that green sea turtles are more likely to ingest soft items such as threads and sheets while loggerheads are more likely to ingest hard items. When considering the quantity, frequency and nature of ingested marine debris as well as the physiology of specific species and age classes, green sea turtles, particularly younger specimens, ingest the greatest amount of marine debris.