They grow up so fast.
Husbandry and veterinary teams at Birch Aquarium recently conducted an annual checkup on the facility’s rescued Loggerhead Sea Turtle .
The exam included scrubbing her shell, taking new measurements, and collecting a blood sample, which helps experts track her growth and health over time.
The sea turtle has lived at Birch Aquarium since 2014. When she first arrived , she was underweight at 98 pounds — and had a hole in her shell that was causing curvature in her spine.
In 2017, the aquarium worked with the Digital Media Lab at UC San Diego Library to create a first-of-its-kind 3D-printed brace for her shell.
Today, she’s been rehabilitated to a healthy 210 pounds and her shell is 3 ft long and 2.5 ft wide — about the size of a boogie board.
See the shellebrity in the Hall of Fishes habitat, open daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.