A 138-pound green sea turtle named Charlotte, residing at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, is receiving an innovative new harness designed to improve her mobility and quality of life. Charlotte, who has been living with bubble butt syndrome—a condition caused by a boat strike nearly two decades ago—has been fitted with a custom 3D-printed device aimed at alleviating her mobility challenges.
Understanding Bubble Butt Syndrome
Bubble butt syndrome, or positive buoyancy syndrome, is a serious condition affecting sea turtles, often caused by a traumatic injury such as a boat strike. The injury typically damages the turtle’s spine, which disrupts the function of its rear flippers and gastrointestinal system. This condition causes the turtle to struggle with buoyancy, leading to a tilted swimming posture with its back end raised instead of swimming flat.
Charlotte’s injury, sustained around 2006 or 2007, resulted in partial paralysis of her back flippers, which in turn makes controlling her buoyancy difficult. As a result, Charlotte often swims with her head pointing downward. The condition makes it hard for her to navigate naturally through the water, and she is unable to be released back into the wild due to her mobility issues.
Claire Bolster, an aquarist at Mystic Aquarium and Charlotte’s primary handler, explains that most sea turtle injuries, particularly those from boat strikes, affect the spine directly underneath the shell, often damaging nerves that control the flippers and gastrointestinal system. This damage, combined with trapped air in the turtle’s digestive system, leads to the abnormal swimming posture.
A Team Effort to Help Charlotte
Charlotte’s story of rehabilitation has benefited from a collaborative effort between engineers, 3D printing specialists, and animal care experts. Over the years, numerous devices were attempted to assist Charlotte, but none provided a lasting solution. The aquarium turned to Adia, a 3D printing company with a track record of creating custom devices for animals, including orthotics for an African penguin at the aquarium.
This time, the challenge was more complex: designing a harness that would weigh down Charlotte’s rear end to help counteract the trapped air in her body. This solution also had to be adjustable, ensuring it could accommodate her fluctuating buoyancy and growing size. The team enlisted the help of Gabriela Queiroz Miranda, a high school student whose award-winning design for a weighted belt to aid sea turtles with buoyancy issues caught the attention of the project team. Gabriela’s passion for marine life and problem-solving led her to contribute her ideas, adding valuable insights to the design process.
Designing the Custom Harness
Using 3D scanning technology, the team captured detailed data of Charlotte’s shell geometry and buoyancy issues. This information allowed them to create a tailored harness that could apply gentle pressure to help balance her buoyancy. The design process was a lengthy one, spanning five years and involving several trials to perfect the mechanism.
The final product is a lightweight yet durable harness made from Formlabs Nylon 11 CF Powder, a carbon fiber-filled material that is both strong and flexible. The custom harness is designed to grow with Charlotte as she continues to mature. According to Nick Gondek, an engineer at Adia, Charlotte’s new harness is the “Ferrari” of turtle harnesses, providing the highest level of support and comfort.
Early Success and Positive Results
The results of the new harness have been promising. Charlotte now wears the harness for a few hours daily as part of her physical therapy. Early observations show that her back flippers are moving more, and her tail, which had been curled under due to the injury, is gradually straightening.
Bolster notes that while it’s common for male green turtles to have a fully flat tail, Charlotte’s tail had been curved beneath her due to his injuries. The harness is also helping Charlotte regain some natural buoyancy, allowing him to swim with more control and stability.
The success of Charlotte’s harness is a significant step forward in rehabilitation technology for injured sea turtles. The team at Mystic Aquarium hopes that this breakthrough will be used as a model for other aquariums and rehabilitation centers, offering a scalable solution for other turtles suffering from similar conditions.
Looking Toward the Future
In addition to improving Charlotte’s quality of life, the ultimate goal of this project is to create a system that can be replicated for other sea turtles in need of rehabilitation. The custom harness technology could potentially be adapted for use at other wildlife rehabilitation facilities, allowing for faster and more effective treatments for sea turtles with buoyancy issues caused by injury.
Gabriela Queiroz Miranda reflects on the importance of usability in the design process. “The users here are sea turtles and veterinarians, so the device has to be easy for the veterinarians—who are not engineers—to adjust, and it must be comfortable for the animals to help improve their quality of life.”
As Charlotte continues to adjust to his new harness, the project team remains hopeful that similar solutions can be created for other turtles, ensuring a better future for these vulnerable creatures.
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