A sub-adult green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) was rescued and treated for carapace and plastron shell fractures. The turtle was kept dry-docked for the first 2 months with a placement of a long-term jugular central venous catheter (CVC). Pain management, aggressive antibiotic and anthelmintic therapy, fluid therapy, force feeding, and wound debridement were provided to manage the shell fractures and control bacteremia. Human albumin was administered to treat severe hypoalbuminemia. On day 59, small budding yeasts were noted on the blood smears. Candidemia was confirmed by blood culture, as the yeasts were identified as Candida palmioleophila by the molecular multi-locus identification method. The CVC was removed, and the patient was treated with itraconazole. Although the carapace and plastron wounds had epithelized by 5.5 months after the rescue, the turtle died unexpectedly by 7.5 months. The postmortem examination revealed numerous necrogranulomas with intralesional yeasts, morphologically compatible with Candida spp., in joints, bones, brain, and lungs, suggestive of disseminated candidiasis. We describe a rare case of candidemia in the veterinary field. To our knowledge, this is the first report of candidiasis caused by C. palmioleophila in a reptile. The present results should improve veterinary medical care and, therefore, enhance the conservation of endangered sea turtle species.

Marine turtles are endangered megafauna that face both natural disturbances and anthropogenic threats. The islands of Wan-an and Lanyu support two important green turtle nesting populations in Taiwan and are separated by 250 km. Nesting activity was first documented on Wan-an Island in 1992, with 8 nesting females being documented. A further 11 nesting females were first documented on Lanyu Island in 1997. However, by 2015, the Wan-an Island population declined to only 2 nesting females, whereas the Lanyu Island population showed peaks in abundance (up to 24 nesters) every 3–5 years with no long-term decline. Additionally, the recruitment of new nesters to the Wan-an Island population decreased to 15%, whereas recruitment into the Lanyu Island population remained high (66%). The decrease of the nesting population on Wan-an Island might be due to illegal poaching on the high seas along the migratory corridor of the turtles, whereas the stable nesting population on Lanyu Island showed no evidence of such a threat. The two nesting populations use different migratory corridors to their foraging grounds, resulting in different fates of development in population trend.

The South China Sea is one of the most important areas for sea turtles in China. Taipin Tao is the largest island in the Nansha Archipelago and is a nesting site for green and, possibly hawksbill, turtles. Satellite telemetry studies from the year 2000 till 2003 demonstrated that the green turtles nesting at Taipin Tao are a shared natural resource among the nations in the southern South China Sea. Regional and international cooperation overseen by international organizations is desperately needed for the effective protection of the green turtles nesting at Taipin Tao.

There are two marine species in the genus Ozobranchus. Ozobranchus branchiatus mainly parasitizes green turtles and O. margoi parasitizes most turtle species. We used sequences for the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI sequence analysis), along with morphological diagnosis, to compare the population genetic structures of O. branchiatus and O. margoi collected near Taiwan to those of their populations in the Atlantic. The results provide estimates of the genetic divergence between these leeches in the two regions. Ozobranchus branchiatus had a greater pairwise distance within Taiwan (0.0031–0.0141) than O. margoi (no differences). Phylogenetic tree analysis identified one O. branchiatus clade and one O. margoi clade in Taiwan. The better environmental adaptability and lower host specificity of O. margoi might result in lower genetic divergence among populations.