Wye River Terrapins

Type: Tidal
Region: Eastern
Location: Wye River

I have been running our Carver Motor Yacht, "Into the Mystic" to the Wye River for over a decade, and then proceed to crab/birdwatch/fish from a 9� dingy. I have only caught two other toad fish and never caught a turtle while crabbing (assortment of crab rings and traps) but while out for an extended float with family over the last week, caught 1 toad fish, approx 7.5� and 9 turtles, all in the general vicinity of Dividing Creek. Attached are a few pics. I assume someone keeps track of these sorts of things, and hope the information is useful.

We also caught many dozens of crabs, still finding the ratio of keepers to non-keepers something like 1 to 7 or 8, with a few females.

I would love it if someone can confirm the exact species of turtle(s) that we caught. I was not able to capture a photo of all of them, but their head, tail, claws were all very similar with differences in the color of the carapace, and certainly size/weight � smallest was around 7 inches largest over 11 inches.

Lastly, we had multiple kingfisher, eagle, and green heron sightings � amongst the birds we are accustomed to seeing like blue heron, osprey, etc.

DNR Response: You caught diamondback terrapins, the State turtle of Maryland.