Sea turtle hatchlings experience high mortality rates during dispersal. To minimize time spent in predator-dense waters, hatchlings typically undergo a period of hyperactivity termed the ‘frenzy’, characterized by almost continuous swimming for ~24 h. Research has focused on swimming performance during the frenzy, but our understanding of changes in swimming performance post-frenzy is limited. Thus, we measured green turtle (Chelonia mydas) hatchling swimming performance during the frenzy and post-frenzy when the turtles were 4, 12 and 24 weeks old. Using load cells, we recorded thrust production, stroke rates and the time turtles spent performing various swimming gaits. We found that the proportion of time spent powerstroking and the thrust generation per powerstroke were the main determinants of overall swimming performance. Older, larger turtles generated more thrust per stroke, but the proportion of time spent powerstroking throughout the entire swimming trial did not differ among age groups. Hatchlings have been thought mainly to use currents to reach nursery foraging grounds, and our findings suggest that hatchling swimming might also play an important role in directing hatchlings to optimal nursery habitats, supporting recent studies. Additionally, turtle size is positively related to swimming performance in post-frenzy turtles, suggesting that faster-growing turtles might have fitness advantages over slower-growing turtles.

中文翻译：

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海龟幼体游泳表现的个体发育

海龟幼体在传播过程中死亡率很高。为了使在捕食者密集的水域中所花费的时间最少，孵化场通常会经历一段称为“疯狂”的活动过度期，其特征是几乎连续游泳约24小时。研究集中在狂潮期间的游泳表现，但是我们对狂潮后游泳表现变化的理解是有限的。因此，我们测量了绿海龟（Chelonia mydas）龟在4、12和24周大时在狂潮和狂潮后的孵化游泳表现。使用称重传感器，我们记录了推力产生，冲程频率以及海龟花费在进行各种游泳步态上的时间。我们发现，花费动力的时间比例和每次击球产生的推力是整体游泳成绩的主要决定因素。年龄较大，较大的海龟每招会产生更大的推力，但是在整个游泳试验中，花拳进行运动的时间比例在各个年龄组之间没有差异。孵化场主要被认为是利用海流到达苗圃觅食场，我们的发现表明，孵化场游泳在将孵化场引导至最佳苗圃栖息地方面也可能发挥重要作用，从而支持了最近的研究。另外，