Chelonia mydas fibropapillomatosis in Baie Blanche, Tintamarre Island Saint Martin (FWI), an environmental sciences and veterinary cross-analysis

Abstract Chelonia mydas’s fibropapillomatosis is a panzootic neoplastic disease that has been affecting the species since 1930’s, starting in Key West Florida USA. Most likely induced by the Chelonian HerpesVirus 5 (ChHV5), fibropapillomatosis has been recorded as affecting all species of marine turtles, provoking the growth of malignant external and internal round shaped tumors to marine turtles, that share numerous genomic similarities with human cancers. This research focuses on the two pristine bays of Tintamarre island in Saint Martin (French West Indies), Baie Blanche and Lagon, where the early stage of fibropapillomatosis has been observed affecting juvenile Chelonia mydas resident of Tintamarre. The results obtained when cross-analyzing the environmental monitoring and studies performed of Tintamarre island and a veterinary health assessment of Chelonia mydas juvenile and sub-adult marine turtles of Baie Blanche, bring a different perspective to the environmental pressures that may be responsible of the expression of the disease in Chelonia mydas. Macro-algae and Cadmium (Cd) contamination of marine turtles habitat and foraging grounds are environmental parameters that are found as possibly inducing fibropapillomatosis clinical expression in Tintamarre in this research, concurring with previous publications findings. Tintamarre island in Saint Martin (FWI) is a key site to study pertaining to marine turtle fibropapillomatosis.