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So Excellent a Fishe: A Natural History of Sea Turtles
No single individual did more to promote sea turtle research and conservation than Archie Carr (1909–1987). So entwined did he become with these creatures and the fight against their overexploitation and loss of habitat that the largest wildlife refuge for loggerhead turtles in the world was named in his honor, and World Sea Turtle Day is celebrated internationally on his birthday, June 16.
Carr’s work with sea turtles began in the 1940s.His many publications written for general readers, including his 1956 classic The Windward Road ,alongside numerous articles for National Geographic and other publications, brought widespread attention to the plight of these animals. So Excellent a Fishe, first published in 1967, combined everything the careful researcher had learned in more than two decades of fieldwork. This groundbreaking book answered many then-unresolved questions about sea turtle behavior, including those about their remarkable migrations. In large part because of the endearing charm of Carr’s narrative style, it remains a beloved and often-consulted volume in the field.
This new edition captures Carr’s gentle humor, his passionate fascination with sea turtles, and his intense love of sharing his knowledge with readers. A foreword by Karen Bjorndal, director of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, brings the story up to date even as it reveals how prescient Carr was more than 45 years ago. Archie Carr was professor of zoology at the University of Florida, a research associate of the American Museum of Natural History, and founder of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. He authored many books about his life as a naturalist, including The Windward Road and Ulendo, both now available from the University Press of Florida.
Carr’s work with sea turtles began in the 1940s.His many publications written for general readers, including his 1956 classic The Windward Road ,alongside numerous articles for National Geographic and other publications, brought widespread attention to the plight of these animals. So Excellent a Fishe, first published in 1967, combined everything the careful researcher had learned in more than two decades of fieldwork. This groundbreaking book answered many then-unresolved questions about sea turtle behavior, including those about their remarkable migrations. In large part because of the endearing charm of Carr’s narrative style, it remains a beloved and often-consulted volume in the field.
This new edition captures Carr’s gentle humor, his passionate fascination with sea turtles, and his intense love of sharing his knowledge with readers. A foreword by Karen Bjorndal, director of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, brings the story up to date even as it reveals how prescient Carr was more than 45 years ago. Archie Carr was professor of zoology at the University of Florida, a research associate of the American Museum of Natural History, and founder of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. He authored many books about his life as a naturalist, including The Windward Road and Ulendo, both now available from the University Press of Florida.
- GenresScienceNatural History
302 pages, Paperback
First published September 11, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 19, 2024
Tagging turtles tentatively taps truth
I’ve liked turtles a lot since I was a kid and had a few that you used to buy for a dime or quarter at the local department store’s pet section. Those were little green ones that would live in an aquarium and eat tadpoles, flies, or the turtle food sold in the same stores. They didn’t much like that turtle food, though. They also relished tiny bits of raw hamburger. Once I had a box tortoise that I saved before it got crushed by a truck as it tried to cross a busy highway. It liked various fruits and even caught cockroaches in our old apartment house kitchen. But those turtle days were long ago. I read this book long ago too, but recently re-read it because I’d forgotten most of it.
Back in the 1950s and ‘60s, Archie Carr apparently haunted the turtle beaches and islets of the Caribbean studying the lives of sea turtles. He notes that there are five species, but he concentrated on the green turtle. At that time, turtles were endangered everywhere. People in sea turtle-populated areas used to relish turtle meat and eggs. They would go to the beaches where turtles laid their eggs and dig them up practically at the moment the turtles dropped them into holes in the sand. Human depredations were the final disaster in the age-old desire for eggs and baby turtles by a whole range of animals, birds and fish which waited eagerly for the hundreds and thousands of newly-hatched turtlets to rush across the beaches towards the sheltering sea. Carr wished to save the turtles, but owing to a serious lack of information about turtle lifestyles beyond the beaches, he didn’t know how.
This book is the story of a lot of his research in Mexico, Costa Rica, Florida, and Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. It seems that the baby turtles who survive the gauntlet of enemies on the beach disappear for a year or so. Nobody in those days knew where they went, but they were never seen. The surviving males swam their whole lives in the vast oceans and never came to the shore again, but after some secret years of growth, the female turtles returned to the beach of their birth to lay a hundred eggs, often four times in a season. How did they know which direction to go? They would swim for great distances in many directions for years beforehand. One way to solve these mysteries was to tag the turtles. By the time Carr and associates got started, the turtle populations of many Caribbean beaches had been decimated. He began working in Costa Rica at the last beach where multitudes of turtles still could be seen. Not only did the workers tag turtles, but they initiated turtle protection laws and activities in Costa Rica, and even, by saving hundreds of babies from predators, increased the percent of survivors on their own. Ascension Island was also home to many laying turtles, but nobody knew whence they came. Carr discovered that the turtles born there made their way to Brazilian coasts, but would return to that remote island, 1,200 miles across the open ocean, to lay eggs. How?
A large section of the book, after the very interesting earlier part, is about theories of how turtles guide themselves and the experiments done to learn it. This may be a bit too detailed for readers like me, but if you are interested in sea turtles, their lives, and their abilities—as known half a century ago—you would be interested in this book.
P.S. I read the 1973 edition so I don't know if any updates were ever published to include new findings.
I’ve liked turtles a lot since I was a kid and had a few that you used to buy for a dime or quarter at the local department store’s pet section. Those were little green ones that would live in an aquarium and eat tadpoles, flies, or the turtle food sold in the same stores. They didn’t much like that turtle food, though. They also relished tiny bits of raw hamburger. Once I had a box tortoise that I saved before it got crushed by a truck as it tried to cross a busy highway. It liked various fruits and even caught cockroaches in our old apartment house kitchen. But those turtle days were long ago. I read this book long ago too, but recently re-read it because I’d forgotten most of it.
Back in the 1950s and ‘60s, Archie Carr apparently haunted the turtle beaches and islets of the Caribbean studying the lives of sea turtles. He notes that there are five species, but he concentrated on the green turtle. At that time, turtles were endangered everywhere. People in sea turtle-populated areas used to relish turtle meat and eggs. They would go to the beaches where turtles laid their eggs and dig them up practically at the moment the turtles dropped them into holes in the sand. Human depredations were the final disaster in the age-old desire for eggs and baby turtles by a whole range of animals, birds and fish which waited eagerly for the hundreds and thousands of newly-hatched turtlets to rush across the beaches towards the sheltering sea. Carr wished to save the turtles, but owing to a serious lack of information about turtle lifestyles beyond the beaches, he didn’t know how.
This book is the story of a lot of his research in Mexico, Costa Rica, Florida, and Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. It seems that the baby turtles who survive the gauntlet of enemies on the beach disappear for a year or so. Nobody in those days knew where they went, but they were never seen. The surviving males swam their whole lives in the vast oceans and never came to the shore again, but after some secret years of growth, the female turtles returned to the beach of their birth to lay a hundred eggs, often four times in a season. How did they know which direction to go? They would swim for great distances in many directions for years beforehand. One way to solve these mysteries was to tag the turtles. By the time Carr and associates got started, the turtle populations of many Caribbean beaches had been decimated. He began working in Costa Rica at the last beach where multitudes of turtles still could be seen. Not only did the workers tag turtles, but they initiated turtle protection laws and activities in Costa Rica, and even, by saving hundreds of babies from predators, increased the percent of survivors on their own. Ascension Island was also home to many laying turtles, but nobody knew whence they came. Carr discovered that the turtles born there made their way to Brazilian coasts, but would return to that remote island, 1,200 miles across the open ocean, to lay eggs. How?
A large section of the book, after the very interesting earlier part, is about theories of how turtles guide themselves and the experiments done to learn it. This may be a bit too detailed for readers like me, but if you are interested in sea turtles, their lives, and their abilities—as known half a century ago—you would be interested in this book.
P.S. I read the 1973 edition so I don't know if any updates were ever published to include new findings.
May 12, 2024
It was so interesting to learn about early sea turtle migration and conservation studies from 1940s-1967s. There is good reason World Sea Turtle Day is celebrated internationally in Carr’s honor (June 16).
That being said, this is not a quick beach-read about sea turtles. It is Carr is funny and smart. It I is pleasurable to read and academic. So if you like conservation history and how in real time scientists studied the world pre-internet, pre-gps tracking, etc, then this is a great book to nerd out on.
Notes and mailing of metal tags, word of mouth, Carr later musing if we could one day track turtles with satellites. A time capsule that brought so many more questions than answers.
Let me know if you wanna borrow it, IRL friends!
That being said, this is not a quick beach-read about sea turtles. It is Carr is funny and smart. It I is pleasurable to read and academic. So if you like conservation history and how in real time scientists studied the world pre-internet, pre-gps tracking, etc, then this is a great book to nerd out on.
Notes and mailing of metal tags, word of mouth, Carr later musing if we could one day track turtles with satellites. A time capsule that brought so many more questions than answers.
Let me know if you wanna borrow it, IRL friends!
June 28, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed 'So Excellent a Fishe' by Archie Carr. Published in 1967, Carr's foresight is remarkable—he delves into sea turtle migration and suggests their use of magnetic fields for navigation, which is astounding for its time. He also discusses the presence of leatherbacks in northern latitudes with compelling evidence to support again amazing for its time. He mentions sustainable harvesting, underpinned by protection and biological understanding, is both surprising and encouraging. This book is a must-read not only for sea turtle enthusiasts but also for marine biologists.
July 14, 2019
A classic book on the ecology and conservation of sea turtles written by the grandfather of sea turtle conservation. Much of the book is now dated, but Carr's insights and musing about the mysteries of sea turtles are fascinating and enlightening. A brilliant mind and a wonderful writer at work: “Everybody ought to see a turtle nesting. It is an impressive thing to see, the pilgrimage of a sea creature back to the land its ancestors left a hundred million years ago.”
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April 30, 2020(Read for research, so no rating.)
April 7, 2016
Archie Carr writes with gentle humor, deep concentration and an obvious love of his subject.
He studied turtles in a time (1960's) when he could drive up from Costa Rica in a station
wagon with his children, stopping at village bars to ask about turtles.
He admittdly made conclusions without substantiation but I felt he was so in tune with
the turtles he studied that those conclusions did have a basis.
I am going to read his book about Florida, where he lived, taught, researched, in hopes he had
kept his sense of humor and precise observational skills.
He studied turtles in a time (1960's) when he could drive up from Costa Rica in a station
wagon with his children, stopping at village bars to ask about turtles.
He admittdly made conclusions without substantiation but I felt he was so in tune with
the turtles he studied that those conclusions did have a basis.
I am going to read his book about Florida, where he lived, taught, researched, in hopes he had
kept his sense of humor and precise observational skills.
March 27, 2016
Even though some of the information is outdated (the book was written in the 60's), it is a great source for sea turtle enthusiasts. You can feel Archie Carr's passion for turtles through his stories and theories.
November 16, 2012
The first human kind who started to really care about sea turtle.
September 13, 2013
A marine biology classic. A lot of the information is outdated, but the historical perspective was enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews