Common slider

Characteristics

A turtle with a distinctive red pattern behind its eyes. From the head to the tail, thin yellow stripes run all over the body. The carapace is gently dome-shaped and green in color. Depending on the individual, the intensity of green varies, and some even look brown. As the male grows, it turns dark brown and loses the pattern on the carapace. The edge of the deck deck is shallowly wavy. Females are larger than males.

Alien Species of Interest

Since the 1980s, large quantities of red-eared sliders farmed in the United States have been imported. Juveniles were called "green turtles" and were distributed as pets, but individuals that could no longer be kept were abandoned. In Japan, there is concern about the impact on the ecosystem, and it is designated as a special alien species.

Ecology

Inhabits rivers and lakes, and can be seen almost everywhere in Japan. The individual found in Japan is the subspecies red-eared slider.

You can see them drying their shells when the sun is out. They are omnivorous, eating everything from plants to fish and small animals. They hibernate in winter, but the length of time varies from region to region.

Gender changes depending on temperature at birth.

Habitat

I photographed an individual drying its shell in the Yudono River in Hachioji City. It was a cold winter day, and he was often sunbathing on a sunny rock. The carapace was dark brown, suggesting that it was a fully grown individual.

As in other regions, there were many children raising green turtles in the region where I grew up. Ponds and slow-moving rivers almost certainly have the impression of being inhabited by red-eared sliders.