Three giant leatherback turtles have been washed up dead on west coast Scottish beaches within days of each other after travelling thousands of miles from the Caribbean.
A leading marine scientist described the strandings as “unprecedented.” They are first turtle strandings recorded in Scotland for five years.
One was found near Elgol on Skye on October 13. Two days earlier another was recovered at Arinagour Bay on the isle of Coll.
A massive 6ft leatherback turtle was also discovered dead and tangled in creel ropes by a fisherman on the west coast on October 8.
The turtle, found by local fisherman in Eddrachillis Bay near Drumbeg, Sutherland weighed a massive 58st 11lbs and is estimated to be aged between 40 and 80-years-old.
It was towed to Lochinver where locals flocked to see one of the biggest turtles in the world.
Dr Andrew Brownlow, director of Scottish Marine Mammal Stranding Scheme, who carried out the post mortem on the Sutherland turtle, said it drowned.
“These three recent strandings are the first we have reported in Scotland since 2009. It is quite unprecedented and a significant cluster.
“We need to know what’s going on – are there more turtles following more jellyfish, their main prey. Or is there a greater mortality caused by creel ropes etc?
“We don’t know a vast amount about their movements in our waters but it is presumed they return to the Caribbean. “Leatherbacks are really the only turtles that are able to exist in our waters for a long time and they are only here because of the prolific amount of jellyfish.
“The turtle in Sutherland was still only a third the weight these guys can grow up to, which is not bad considering this species subsist entirely on jellyfish.”
Only a handful of leatherback turtles are seen in Scottish waters – and rarely alive.
Plastic bag and balloon ingestion have also been found as the cause of death in a number of cases because turtles mistake them for jellyfish.