To the Sea turtles in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, are getting healthier after battling a tumor disease for years which hinders their movement, vision and feeding and ultimately leads to their death.
Scientists said that This result came after authorities made an effort to clean the water of the natural harbor that shapes the region’s identity. .
Research has linked fibropapillomatosis, a benign tumor in sea turtles, to a virus and environmental factors.
Kassia Coelho, a professor of veterinary pathological anatomy at the Fluminense Federal University, said that samples collected from the animals and water point to a much healthier environment.
“It involves analyzing health by collecting blood samples and collecting tumors that these turtles have, and also taking biometrics of the animals, seeing their growth over the years and monitoring these animals from one year to the next,” he said.
“We recapture a lot, many of these turtles are recaptured and we can assess whether they have grown, whether they are heavier, whether they have lost weight, whether they have more tumors or fewer tumors.”
Surrounded by a dense urban population, Guanabara Bay was once a nursery for marine life, but over the years it has suffered from the dumping of sewage and other types of waste.
In 2022, scientists discovered that three-quarters of the sea turtles at the site were carrying tumors.
Although research is still ongoing, Gustavo Baila, an oceanographer and professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande, said sea turtles have been healthier since 2023.
“Turtles are very important marine species for marine conservation,” he said. “We observed a high incidence of sea turtles with tumors, with deformities that end up being very serious for the development of the animals.”
Brazil is home to five of the world’s seven species of sea turtles. However, their natural habitat is sometimes severely affected by humans. Conservationists have called for stricter measures to protect these animals.
Alexandre Bianchini, vice president of Brazilian water and sewage treatment company Aegea, said about 2 billion reais has been invested in cleaning the water in the area. “Nature responds,” he said.
This content was originally published in Water quality improves and sea turtles in Guanabara Bay are healthier on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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