Welcome to another installment of Field Guide Face-Off, a series I created to compare some of Florida’s most commonly confused species and provide ways to tell them apart. We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about and learning to identify similar looking birds but this time… were changing gears. This time we are focusing on turtles! More specifically freshwater turtles.
These two species look remarkably similar and I often find myself stumbling over which is it I see at various retention ponds, lakes, etc. Often these individuals can be found sunbathing on a log, rock or other structure. Within this edition, I will do my best to provide you with the best way to differentiate between Florida’s cooter species versus the sliders. Additionally, we will look at how to identify the four species of cooters and the two sliders that are currently found in Florida. But to start it might be helpful to provide you with some terminology!
Terms to Know
- Plastron– This is the hard underside of a turtle (or I sometimes refer to this as the belly).
- Scutes– The individual plates on the shell. You can think of these as the hexagonal sections you may think of on the back of a turtle shell.
- Marginal Scutes– These refer to the plates on the outer rim of the turtle.
- Carapace– The top of the shell.
Cooters vs Sliders
- Plastron- The plastron is the easiest way to tell these two species apart. Cooters tend to have a single colored plastron. Sometimes there may be some discoloration or markings but they are minimal. Sliders on the other hand tend to have distinct spots on their bellies.
- Marginal Scutes- Similar to the plastron, cooters tend to have single colored marginal scutes. Sometimes you may see some spotting but it won’t ever be towards their back legs and tail. Whereas, the sliders will have distinct spots (sometimes referred to as “smudges”) on their marginal scutes. Sliders also have indented rear scutes which can sometimes make them sharp or appear serrated. Cooters tend to have more rounded, straight marginal scutes.
- Carapace- Sliders tend to be more circular than cooters! You may also notice that cooters tend to have more flare meaning that their marginal scutes appear to flare out versus rounding down.
- Head- Cooters tend to have rounded jaws where as sliders often have a clear notch on their upper jaw.
Cooters
The River Cooter is only found in the Panhandle of Florida, so us South Floridians have likely not encountered one of these crossing our busy roads. As their name suggests, river cooters prefer moving bodies of water. They have highly domed shells that are often dark in appearance. One of their more notable features is the ‘C’ that can be seen on their shell. Their bellies contain an orange to yellow colorations with darker colors in the seams.
Florida Cooter can be broken into two subspecies with one dominating the Panhandle of Florida to the Big Bend region. The second subspecies dominates the rest of the state from the Jacksonville area down to Miami. They prefer waters that do not have a current or are slow moving- think lakes, canals, swamps, etc. Florida cooters tend to have longer shells but are less domed than the previously discussed River cooter. They also have all plain yellow bellies.
The Florida Red-bellied Cooter is found within peninsular Florida. These cooters also seem to prefer slower moving waterbodies. Much like the River Cooter, they have highly domed shells but they have red, yellow, or orange vertical strips. Their bellies also have a red, yellow, or orange coloration.
The Suwanee Cooter is found as far north as the Big Bend region and as far south as the Tampa Bay region. This is the largest cooter with some individuals measured at 17 inches. The easiest way to identify these guys is buy the backwards “C” that appears on each scute on their shell, though sometimes these can be difficult to see in the wild.
Sliders
The Yellow-Bellied Slider is known for their large yellow blotches behind the eye. As previously mentioned, the backend of their shell is serrated. Their bellies are yellow with some sort of dark patterns.
The Red-Eared Slider is an invasive species to Florida. These can easily be identified by the red stripe that appears behind their eye. Since they are invasive they are not known to be historically in Florida and were likely introduced by people. Red-Eared Sliders impact native turtle diversity by outcompeting them for food, basking spots, and other resources. If you see a Red-Eared Slider in the wild, FWC suggests that you do not remove the individual instead you can report it to IveGot1.
1
