Red-eared slider (melanistic male)

Melanistic (old) male red-eared slider. (see ID suggestion) This one appears to have survived some shell trauma on his left side.

Aaron what would you say they are ?

He's one the guys from California Herps

Thank you Aaron,Very interesting indeed!

These are incredibly common in my area and I see A LOT of them. :-)

Thank you so much Jellis. I did see that hint of red too. The shell is puzzling me!!I will wait for Neil to see it!!
Please thank your expert friend for me!!

This came from an expert:
I'm afraid I don't know what it is. You really need to see the full head to get an ID. Large old red-eared sliders often do not have red on the head. It seems like I can see a trace of a red patch behind the eye with a faint amount of red. This might be due to the photo, but it could be a slider. I don't know why the shell is yellow. That seems unusual.

I am asking an expert. But I'm guessing a pet dump.

jellis,I included another pic. See if that helps.

yes ,some yellow too.

http://www.californiaherps.com/identific...

how about some yellow?

I know for a fact that there was no red ear. Lines yes.

If the face is striped and has a red patch on the sides of it's face, yes

If we had to choose between the two, Red eared slider?

Not really. That happens with exposure and age and chemicals. Unless it was a pet from out of California, you only have a few species from CA it could be and I narrowed it down to two.

Jellis, I do have a few more pics which I can upload. The carapace is unusual .

Do you have another angle? If this has stripes and red on the side of the face it's most likely a Red-eared Slider-Trachemys scripta elegans
If it has spots or marbled it maybe a Pacific Pond Turtle -Actinemys marmorata

Very curious to know which kind. Never seen before.