After water quality improves, scientists find sea turtles in Brazil get healthier

Sea turtles in the Guanabara Bay of Rio de Janeiro are getting healthier after struggling for years with a tumour disease that hampers their movement, sight and feeding, and leads to their death.

Sea turtles in the Guanabara Bay of Rio de Janeiro are getting healthier after struggling for years with a tumour disease that hampers their movement, sight and feeding, and ultimately leads to their death.

Scientists said it came after authorities made an effort to clean up the water of the natural harbor that shapes the identity of the region.

Research has linked fibropapillomatosis, a benign tumour in sea turtles, to both a virus and environmental factors.

Kassia Coelho, a professor of veterinary pathological anatomy at the Federal Fluminense University, said samples taken from the animals and the water pointed to a much healthier environment.

"It's about analysing health by collecting blood and tumours from these turtles, and also biometrics of the animals, seeing their growth over the years and monitoring these animals from one year to the next," she said.

"Many of these turtles are recaptured and we can assess whether they've grown, whether they're heavier, whether they've lost weight, whether they have more tumours or fewer tumours."

Surrounded by a dense urban population, Guanabara Bay was once a nursery for marine life but has over the years suffered from sewage and other garbage being dumped there.