https://diler.tube/videos/watch/89591897-2e29-4881-9a8c-a7fd9cf6be8d Several marine turtle species spend their first years of life in oceanic habitats. This early life stage is referred to as the ‘lost years’ due to the difficulty of accessing individuals for study offshore. We satellite tracked 114 wild-caught juvenile turtles (straight carapace lengths 12.3–29.9 cm) from the Gulf of Mexico between 2011 and 2022 to investigate ‘lost years’ movements with respect to traditional definitions assigned to the life stage. Satellite-tracked turtles included 79 green turtles (Chelonia mydas), 26 Kemp’s ridleys (Lepidochelys kempii), 5 loggerheads (Caretta caretta) and 4 hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata). Many tracked turtles transited between oceanic ( greater than 200 m depth) and neritic waters ( less than 200 m depth), challenging the assumption that this life stage is exclusively found in oceanic habitats. Turtle movements differed from oceanographic surface drifters, providing further evidence that sea turtles of this life stage do not exclusively drift with currents. We recommend redefining the ‘oceanic stage’ as a ‘dispersal stage’ to better reflect their behaviour and habitat plasticity. Our findings establish the West Florida Shelf as a high-use area, particularly among green turtles and Kemp’s ridleys. The northeastern Gulf of Mexico is an important region for these species of conservation concern. Fri, 28 Aug 2026 20:18:37 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://diler.tube https://diler.tube/lazy-static/avatars/f58b270a-6076-478a-ad43-3888a532ecb4.png https://diler.tube/videos/watch/89591897-2e29-4881-9a8c-a7fd9cf6be8d All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://diler.tube/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.