It was in the 1980s when I first made a concerted effort to see a flattened musk turtle, Sternotherus depressus.



My interest had been piqued by the news that a single almost white example was in the live collection at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In those long ago days, except to differentiate leucism from albinism, we didn't differentiate between the various causes of inhibited pigmentation. Since the little turtle did not have the dark eyes associated with leucism, I then and still do refer to the turtle as an albino.

I was happy to have seen the captive specimens at the university, but it was not until just a few years ago that I took the time to look them up in the wild. Since they are a federally endangered turtle species, I thought that they would be difficult to find. This was not at all the case.

After arriving at 2:00PM on a sunny spring afternoon and making my way down a considerable slope and through painful tangles of cat briar, I reached the river's edge. Within 5 minutes I had seen my first couple of depressus. They were in deep water and I wasn't able to photograph them.

But in just another few minutes I had found another near the shoreline and a fourth in a small disjunct pool. Photos were taken.

It was a good day.