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This painting shows a pair of sea turtles called Jumelez Les Verts-Bleus (Twin Blue-Greens) by the VanuaSemians that are swimming in from the open ocean towards a stand of tall coral located on the eastern side of the reef. Twin Blue-Greens are extremely large ocean going turtles, measuring an astonishing 8 feet or more in length which would make them the largest turtles in the world. They are identical in appearance except for subtle differences in their coloration, which is reversed in the sexes -females are more aqua green with blue overtones while the males are blue with green. They mate for life, usually seen swimming in pairs and are probably indigenous to Liza's Reef since that is their only known breeding ground. There have been sightings reported from islands as far as 1540 kilometers away, which indicates that they are a true deep water species which can feed in the open sea as well as on coral reefs. More than likely they have a regular circuit of reefs that they visit throughout the vast regions of Oceania. Their large size, speed and mobility seems to insure that they have very few predators and probably share the same ecological niches as Australia's Great Barrier Reef dugongs and the large pelagic Leatherback Turtles.
To the islanders these turtles are among the most
sacred of the reef creatures, a status they share with the prized
Anges De la Reine (Queen
Angels), and they think the turtles are
a key to the mystery of how Liza's Reef came to be as it is today, a
magical place where heaven and earth meet, and fish swim with stars.
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