Marine turtles in the Phoenix Islands

Abstract

During the period February 13 to 20, 1973, a visit was made to Canton Island for the purpose of conducting a preliminary survey of marine turtle nesting populations. Although previous investigators have described the sea birds (Buddle, 1938; Murphy G., 1954), insects (Van Zwaluwenburg, 1943, 1955), and vegetation (Hatheway, 1955), very little is known about the marine environment of Canton or the other seven atolls (Enderbury, Birnie, Phoenix, Sydney, Hull, Gardner and McKean) which comprise the Phoenix group. Publications dealing with marine life are limited to a description of fishes collected during the 1939 Bushnell Expedition at Canton, Hull, Enderbury and McKean (Schultz, 1943) and to an identification of some marine algae at Canton Island (Degener and Gillaspy, 1955 Dawson, 1959).