The study of mitochondrial DNA reveals how the loggerhead turtle reached the Mediterranean

To date, it was thought that the loggerhead turtle arrived to the Mediterranean from North America and the Caribbean after the last glacial period. However, latest scientific studies show that this marine species colonized the Mediterranean between 20,000 and 200,000 years ago, so the colonization event took place before the last glacial period. Experts Lluís Cardona, Àlex Aguilar and Marcel Clusa from the Department of Animal Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona (UB), and Carlos Carreras and Marta Pascual (member of IRBio), from the Department of Genetics of UB, participated in these studies.

Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) is the most common turtle inhabiting Mediterranean grounds and one of the most threatened species around the world. Its main nesting sites are located in North-American coast, Brazil, Japan, Oman, Australia, Cape Verde and Eastern Mediterranean (specially, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Libya). In Spanish waters there are turtles of Atlantic and Eastern Mediterranean origin.

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