A fisherman in Queens reeled in an unexpected catch from the East River yesterday: A sea turtle.
Chris Carlson spotted the action near the Costco in Long Island City on Monday around 7:30 p.m., "I was just walking past and heard the guy screaming, 'What the hell is that?! What did I catch?!'"
When the sea turtle started to surface, Carlson explained, "We all jumped down there and luckily they clipped the hook with pliers and they had him back in water in two minutes tops."
The Riverhead Foundation says that sea turtles are usually found in the Long Island Sound during summer months, but a representative said, "Sea turtles follow food—this one probably got lost."
Sea turtles like to eat food "such as spider crabs, jellyfish, seaweed, and green crabs," according to the Riverhead Foundation, which also says the four common species of sea turtle found in Long Island waters are the Kemps Ridley sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, green sea turtle and leatherback sea turtle. Depending on the species, sea turtles are either threatened or endangered.
