We have seen only two species of sea turtles in the Marshalls. It is likely that other species such as the Leatherback or Loggerhead pass by occasionally, but to our knowledge, have not been seen around the reefs. Despite eggs being collected and some turtles harvested for food by local islanders, populations of both the Green and Hawksbill sea turtles seem pretty healthy in Kwajalein Atoll. This may be because most of the atoll is essentially leased by the US government and no habitation on many of the mid atoll islands is permitted, making it more difficult to fish for turtles or collect eggs from much of the atoll.
We have only a few species of lizards, skinks and geckos personally recorded from Kwajalein, although there are certainly more. The Marshall Islands Biodiversity Report (2000) reports nine species of geckos and another nine skinks. We may have seen other geckos that we did not properly distinguish from the two we figure here, but we do know of at least one other that temporarily invaded Kwajalein. For a couple of years in the 1990s, a gecko species at least twice as large as the common House and Mourning geckos could be commonly seen, sometimes eating the smaller gecko species. However, they apparently did not form a lasting population and have not been sighted for maybe 20 years. Also for a couple of years, a large monitor lizard, probably Varanus indicus, was sighted a number of times around Kwajalein. This lizard, not native to the Marshalls, was reportedly introduced by Japanese during WWII to several islands (including Japtan in Enewetak Atoll, where I saw a captured specimen). Reports I have been able to dig up indicate that the monitor was traded to a Kwajalein resident by a crewman on an inter-atoll freighter. It apparently escaped and was sighted at various spots around the island over the course of about a year, then was apparently captured and deported. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo myself, but I did see a photograph of the Kwajalein specimen on a tree in an edition of the local Kwajalein newspaper (page 10).
The one terrestrial snake known from Kwajalein is the introduced Blind Snake. The only sea snakes we have seen at Kwajalein are several specimens of the Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Hydrophis platurus) found dead on beaches. This is a pelagic species usually living well out to sea and is not found around reefs; it shows up on a beach occasionally when it dies or is otherwise washed ashore. During the many years we spent on Kwajalein, we would occasionally receive reports of banded sea snake sightings. All of those I was able to see (either in photos or in the flesh) were actually Banded Snake Eels (Myrichthys colubrinus), a relatively common eel that does have the appearance of a snake. I did hear one report of a Banded Sea Snake (Laticauda colubrina) from Majuro that I consider reliable. A high school science teacher on Majuro told me one had been captured there and he had it preserved at the school. Possibly it was a waif, somehow traveling up from Fiji, where they are common.
Marshallese names from the Marshall Islands Biodiversity Report (2000).
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