Estudio poblacional y genético de la tortuga Chelonia mydas agassizii (Sauria: Cheloniidae) en la Playa Chinchorro, Arica, Chile

Observations on Chelonia mydas agassizii have been carried out on a monthly basis for the last 2 years along the Chinchorro beach in Arica (northern Chile), with the aim of monitoring and describing genetic and population parameters in this group of turtles. Eighteen Ch. mydas agassizii individuals were captured and marked from December 2011, to July 2013. These individuals had long carapace of 47 to 75.7 cm, of which 11 were identified as females and the rest were of undetermined sex (individuals of smaller sizes). We were only able to recapture one of such individuals 6 months later in the same feeding area. Sequencing of the mtDNA Control Region showed 4 haplotypes: 3 that had never been described before and one observed in several regions of the Pacific (Japan, Mexico and Ecuador). This information suggests that Ch. mydas agassizii may stay in the same feeding zone for months. Nevertheless, the genetic information did not indicate any association between the individuals captured from the Chinchorro Beach and a nesting area in the Pacific.