An uncommon encounter with a musk turtle
Earlier this week I visited Biscay Pond in preparation for a class with some Lincoln Academy students on identifying aquatic plants (they will be helping me to do some patrolling for invasive plants this fall). As I waded into the water at the beach I spotted a small turtle, floating lazily among some plants. I was able to catch it in a bucket and positively identified it as a musk turtle, which is a rare find here in Maine.
Musk turtles are sometimes called a “stinkpot” turtle because of their propensity for releasing a foul-smelling liquid from glands around their bottom shell. The turtle I found, though not stinky, did indeed seem aggressive – so I was quick to release it after confirming its species.
A small turtle with a domed carapace, musk turtles are not generally more than five inches in length. The upper shell is olive brown to black, and the head and legs are olive brown to black as well though they have two light stripes on the face and neck. Young ones have three small raised keels along the top of their carapace (upper shell).
These turtles also sport fleshy whiskers under the chin and on the throat known as barbels. The barbels have sensory organs in them that help this nocturnal turtle to feel for its next meal as it scavenges for dead animals or looks for freshwater clams, insects, small fish and plants.
In winter, musk turtles spend their time resting in the bottom of ponds and lakes. While all body functions slow and they do not require as much oxygen, they do continue to breathe – only this is done through “cloacal respiration.” A turtle’s cloaca (rear orifice) is covered in blood vessels. During this dormant period, turtles are able to absorb adequate oxygen from water moving over these blood vessels in the cloaca. Yes, this is sometimes known as “butt breathing” among some of my students.
In Maine, musk turtles are not common and are found only in the central and southern regions. The degradation of shoreline habitat and wetlands in general has led to a decline in populations of this aquatic species throughout the eastern United States.
