Underwater Photography by Jay Torborg 

"Turtle Cleaning Station #1"

The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), called honu by the Hawaiians, is endangered world-wide for a number of reasons. Until 1973, when the Endangered Species Act was passed, sea turtles were hunted for food and for tortoiseshell. Recently, Hawaii�s sea turtle populations have begun to show some signs of recovery. This turtle is having his shell cleaned by yellow and black tangs at a cleaning station. The tangs pick the algae off the turtle�s shell, reducing the turtle�s swimming resistance. Cleaning stations may attract many turtles�one diver has seen 14 turtles being cleaned at once.

This image was captured in about 35 ft of water at a dive site appropriately named "Turtles" in front of the Mauna Lani Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Photographed with a Nikon N90s in a Sea&Sea NX90 housing with two Ikelite 200 strobes. Nikon 60mm f2.8 macro lens. Fuji Provia 100F transparency film scanned with a Nikon LS-2000.

Copyright Jay Torborg 2000, 2001