Natural History: The Eastern Mud Turtle

On a sampling field trip this past Tuesday a small oval shaped individual was found wandering across a sandy walking path... The Eastern Mud Turtle!! The Eastern Mud Turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum) is a very small indistinct member of the musk and mud turtle family Kinosternidae. This family is also known by less appealing names such as the, "stink pots, skill pots, or stinking jims," and have been known to be caught by fisherman. They get their stinky names from the odorous secretions they generate upon capture. Kinosternid turtles are largely aquatic and rarely are found wandering from water sources. These turtles also have long necks which they can use to keep unwanted human fingers from fiddling with them. Turtles found in the genus Kinosternon are also known for having two transverse hinges on their plastron (as seen below).



As seen in the image above, the scutes of the plastron directly above the anterior hinge are in the shape of a triangle. This is indicative when distinguishing mud turtles from their counterpart musk turtles, whom have trapezoid shaped scutes instead. The Eastern mud turtle is fairly plain, having a smooth dark colored carapace and yellow plastron with relativley few markings. Other decent field marks include a head with some form of irregular yellowish (appearing grey/silver in photo) coloration, and a wide bridge connecting the two sides of the shell. Eastern Mud Turtles range from 2 3/4 to 4 inches in length, and this individual was approximately 3 inches. Our little friend here was captured in the swamp of the Caw Caw Interpretive Center in South Carolina, a freshwater swamp very close to brackish water. The reason I mention brackish water is because Eastern Mud Turtles are known to be unbothered by saline water and will happily inhabit brackish habitats, unusual behavior for a freshwater turtle. Based upon size alone this individual was probably an adult. Contrary to most encounters with this turtle, I found him to be more nervous rather than ill tempered. It seemed to me all he wanted to do was escape from us and get on with his business, but he was a very cool find on our first outing!