the.com/diamondback terrapin
The only US turtle that insists on brackish water, like a tiny saltwater snob.
means A turtle native to the brackish coastal marshes and estuaries of the eastern and southern US, named for the diamond-shaped, concentric rings sculpted into each segment of its shell.
from Straightforward English compounding: 'diamondback' describes the sculpted, ring-patterned plates of its carapace, and 'terrapin' comes from an Algonquian word (likely Powhatan 'torepe' or a close relative) that Virginia colonists adopted for edible freshwater and brackish-water turtles, distinguishing them from sea turtles and land tortoises. The species was once so abundant and prized for terrapin soup that it was nearly eaten into scarcity by the early 20th century.
- habitat
- lives only in coastal salt marshes, nowhere else
- name origin
- named for diamond-shaped rings on its shell
- near extinction
- nearly wiped out by soup cravings in 1900s
- salt glands
- has tear glands that excrete excess salt