Photographed this turtle (box turtle??) to show its shell. Is this the way the old shell is shed to make room for new growth, or is this something else? I've never seen this before. I have seen turtles shed thin flakes of shell. This turtle's shell was probably about 5.5" long and maybe 4.5" wide. Image exif info:
9-15-08, 10:30 p.m.
1DMkIII, 100 macro with ext. tube, external flash w/diffuser
ISO 400, f/22
Interesting question and photo Anita. I am no expert at all, but do know that turtles and tortoises shed the scutes of their carapace to enable growth of the shell. I have never seen it to such an extend though. Only, as you also said, entire scutes/flakes coming off. Maybe it is some kind of disease?
Having researched turtles in the wild I have had the opportunity to see quite a few shell abnormalities over the years, extra scutes, merged scutes but this is a first. The keratinized scutes (colored sections of shell) of the carapace peel as the turtle grows and sheds the outer layers but what the picture shows is the carapace devoid of scutes entirely. A turtles spine is part of the underside of the carapace and the shell normally has a blood supply that keeps it healthy and growing. I have seen a turtle shell without the scutes as seen in this photo but never one that still had a living turtle inside of it. :)