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Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spiniferus)

Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spiniferus)

Description:

• 17 - 45 cm
• leather-like carapace, gray-brown with dark blotches
• spiny tubercles on leading edge of carapace
• pig-like snout and very long neck

Habitat:

• broad, slow-moving muddy rivers and soft-bottomed bays and ponds

Conservation concerns, distribution and status:

• reaches its northern range limits in Ontario
• rare and local in southwestern Ontario and has disappeared from some areas
• officially designated as Threatened in Ontario and Canada

Potential climatic domain map

(223 observations in ONHIC database; 60 observations used in analysis)