A green sea turtle sticks its head out to get a breath of air while swimming inside a holding tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The turtle was rescued from an intake channel near a Long Beach power plant, where it had been within range of people who tried to snag it with hooks or impale it with makeshift spears. (Mel Melcon /Los Angeles Times)
Lance Adams, staff veterinarian at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, examines the head of a green sea turtle. Reptiles have an incredible ability to wall off infections, isolate them and heal around them, Adams said. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
When the green sea turtle arrived at the Aquarium of the Pacific, X-rays revealed broken digits and infected lacerations in two front flippers, a three-inch gash on its carapace and a fishing hook buried in its rear left flipper. (Mel Melcon /Los Angeles Times)
The turtle will be released into a heavily industrialized stretch of the San Gabriel River, where federal biologists recently discovered a resident colony of green sea turtles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
