Sea turtle eggs rescued from OC beach released back into ocean after successfully hatching

Some rarely seen sea turtle eggs that were discovered at an Orange County beach have successfully hatched and been released back into the ocean, officials announced.

The 54 hatchlings came from the endangered olive ridley sea turtle eggs that were rescued from a Seal Beach nest back in September.

"We are excited to share that some of the olive ridley sea turtle eggs from Seal Beach successfully hatched after a 58-day incubation period," the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a social media post Saturday morning. "Working with our partners, we carefully released them from the beach in the dark early hours of this morning. The hatchlings were released where light, human disturbance and other distractions were minimal."

When hatchlings emerge, they undergo a "frenzy period," which is described as "an intense, 24-48-hour period of continuous frantic swimming after they reach the ocean surf, fueled entirely by their remaining absorbed egg yolk sac," officials said.

The eggs were removed from two Orange County beaches threatened by high surf and tides. That decision was hailed as a life-saving move for the turtles, which are rarely seen in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

They were transferred to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, where they were being monitored and incubated. There are roughly 150 additional eggs that are being monitored from both nests in Seal and Huntington beaches.

Dr. Lance Adams, a veterinarian at the aquarium, says we could see more hatchlings in the coming weeks.

The two nests, discovered Sept. 16 and Sept. 19, were the first confirmed natural sea turtle nests on the U.S. West Coast, according to the interagency team overseeing the nests.

The first nesting spot was found near the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge. Three days later, an olive ridley turtle laid eggs near the Huntington Beach Pier. Officials later determined the eggs had been laid by two different turtles.

According to the NOAA, olive ridley turtles are the smallest sea turtles, with adults weighing up to 100 pounds and growing between 2 and 3 feet in length.

According to NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center, the best estimate is that about 1 in 1,000 sea turtle hatchlings typically survive to adulthood, although the actual rate depends on factors such as ocean conditions, predation, fishing bycatch and other variables.

Anyone who finds a stranded turtle can call the NOAA Fisheries West Coast Stranding Hotline at 562-506-4315. Sightings of sea turtles can be reported using the NOAA Fisheries West Coast Facebook account.

City News Service contributed to this report.