While our understanding of the early oceanic developmental stage of sea turtles has improved markedly over recent decades, the spatial context for this life history stage remains unknown for Indian Ocean loggerhead turtle populations. To address this gap in our knowledge, 18 juvenile loggerheads were satellite tracked from Reunion Island (21.2°S, 55.3°E) between 2007 and 2011. Nine turtles swam north toward Oman (20.5°N, 58.8°E), where one of the world’s largest rookeries of loggerheads is located.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands support high density resident green and hawksbill turtles and low to moderate density nesting green turtles. Dedicated studies were conducted on resident foraging turtles of the southern atoll between 1999 and 2012 and opportunistic observations were conducted on nesting turtles on both atolls between 1999 and 2009. In-water capture surveys resulted in a species composition of 51% green and 49% hawksbill turtles while counts during boat-based strip transect surveys resulted in a composition of 93% and 7% respectively.

Information on sea turtles is generally limited to breeding individuals and hatchlings monitored on nesting beaches. The life stages between hatchling and adult are difficult to observe and are referred to as the “lost years” (Carr et al. 1978). However, research regarding diet, population density and population viability has been conducted to better understand juvenile life stages (Maffucci et al. 2013; Witherington et al. 2012) and so, no more are those years as “lost” to knowledge as they were before.

Our summary has compiled available information about genetics of nesting and in-water sea turtle populations in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia so that others interested in this field of research might easily identify areas requiring further investigation. We have also identified studies with contradictory results that would benefit from additional investigation.

Nascent fungal infections are currently considered as one of the main threats for biodiversity and ecosystem health, and have driven several animal species into critical risk of extinction. Sea turtles are one of the most endangered groups of animals and only seven species have survived to date. Here, we described two pathogenic species, i.e., Fusarium falciforme and Fusarium keratoplasticum, that are globally distributed in major turtle nesting areas for six sea turtle species and that are implicated in low hatch success.

Genetic diversity and phylogeography of Hawksbill sea turtle was studied by using sequencing of the mitochondrial DNA (D-loop and tRNA pro region). 45 dead embryos were collected from the Qeshm (25 samples) and Kish Islands (20 samples) in the Persian Gulf. Analysis of sequence diversity showed over 890 bp of the mtDNA D-loop and tRNA pro region revealed 5 polymorphism sites and 7 haplotypes. Two new haplotypes were submitted on NCBI gene bank as Iran3 with GU997696 accession number and Iran7 with JN627023 accession number.

This guide, which was kindly funded with voluntary contributions from the German government and and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), was co-authored by Rima W. Jabada and David A. Ebert. It provides identification keys to 68 species of sharks encountered in the Arabian Seas region, and an additional 14 species of sharks and batoids. These include all shark species whose trade or conservation status is regulated through international instruments as well as the ray and sawfish species known to occur in the region.