California's first sea turtle eggs could hatch any day now. Biologists prepare for the 'frenzy'

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Set us as preferred For the first sea turtle eggs ever laid on California beaches, hatching day — hopefully — draws near.At the Aquarium of the Pacific, 204 olive ridley eggs lay packed between layers of sand in the same styrofoam coolers scientists used to transport them to the Long Beach facility in late September — just days before high tides inundated their Orange County nesting sites.

Wireless sensors and cameras monitor conditions within the coolers to ensure their contents remain around 85 to 86 degrees.Aquarium staff check on the makeshift nursery three to four times a day, but will soon increase those visits to every other hour.On Saturday, it will be 45 days since an olive ridley sea turtle crawled out of the surf and deposited a clutch of eggs near the Surfside community in Seal Beach.

Three days later, on Sept.19, a second olive ridley laid eggs eight miles south on Huntington Beach.The species typically has a 45 to 60 day incubation period.

While no one is certain whether the eggs are developing normally — or even if they are fertilized — their hatching would be a first for the nation’s West Coast.California The National Weather Service extended flood advisories for all of Southern California’s coastal counties through 2 p.m.

Friday, said Devin Black, a meteorologist for the weather service’s Oxnard office.They were originally scheduled to expire Thursday at 1 p.m.Federal biologists made a last-minute decision to relocate the eggs to the aquarium on Sept.

29, after forecasters predicted that high tides would swamp the nests.Since then, the aquarium has done its best to minimize disruptions and emulate natural conditions for two clutches whose journey thus far has been anything but routine.“If those eggs were developing, it should be continuing,” said Dr.Lance Adams, the aquarium’s direc...