Sea turtles face many human-induced threats to their survival, such as plastic pollution. Plastic entanglement can inflict serious damages to those animals, forcing them to float. At the Sea turtle Clinic of the Department of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) of Bari, Italy, almost 300 loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) have been hospitalised for rehabilitation last year. In the lab of Infectious Diseases, of DVM, several bacteria were isolated from the lesions of turtles and screened for antimicrobial resistance, for treating injured sea turtles. In this agar plate, we created a piece of art using clinical isolates from sea turtles. A newborn sea turtle trapped in the bottle without possibility to escape and forced to float the ocean’s waves was painted with Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain on Thiosulfate Citrate Bile Salts Sucrose agar. Triptose soy agar was cut from another plate and inserted to form the bottle, Staphylococcus lentis was plated only for the bottle cup. China Blue Lactose agar was distributed on the bottom of the plate and shaken to form bubbles. The foam was created using Pseudomonas fluorescens. Our image wants to be a message (in a bottle) for preservation of an endangered species. Made by Maria Tempesta, Corrente Marialaura, Trotta Adriana, Cirilli Margie and Di Bello Antonio. Published on the post of American Society for Microbiology.
- Bottle and cup of the bottle: Triptose Soy Agar (TSA) with Staphylococcus lentis
- Newborn sea turtle: Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains on Thiosulfate Citrate Bile Salts Sucrose Agar (TCBS)
- Sea and foam: China Blue Lactose (CBL) agar distributed on the bottom of the plate, shaked to form bubbles and plated with Pseudomonas fluorescens.