Pascagoula Map Turtle

Are you sure they are federally listed? They seem to be pretty common in the Southeastern lotic systems. Also it has a very close relative, Pearl River Map Turtle or Miss. Map Turtle that was just discovered to science in January of 2010. The even more rare, yellow-blotched map turtle and yellow-ringed map turtles seem to be making slow comeback in these same systems, being they are such picky nesters.

Thank you all. I had never seen this turtle before this trip and now I know why. I actually saw two within a two mile stretch of the river, but unfortunately, I missed the photo opportunity on the first turtle by whom I floated within 4 feet. I still had my camera in the water bag after this weekend's downpour.

simply awesome!!

Ok, my Turtles of the Southeast book by Whit Gibbons just got a serious workout. This one is a Pascagoula Map Turtle, aka Gibbon's Map Turtle. Your spotting location, the yellow blotches behind the eye, the markings on the marginal scutes of the carapace, and the black spines on the ridge of the carapace all point to Graptemys gibbonsi. This is a remarkable turtle spotting!

Schaeffer - Any chance you can crop this photo so we can get a better look at this awesome turtle? This U.S. Fish and Wildlife dept. has listed this species as Endangered. Great find! And thanks for adding it to my Turtles of the Southeast U.S. mission. I created it to document the incredible diversity of aquatic turtles found in places like Mississippi and Alabama. Some species of map turtles, like this black-knobbed map, are found in specific river systems in Mississippi and Alabama and no where else.

Great spot of a pretty turtle!
Congratulations & welcome to Project Noah schaeffer!

First of all, Congratulations and thank you for sharing this with Project Noah! I believe it is the first posting of this species on PN! My suggest ID has the official names for this map turtle. Excellent!!!