Rehabilitated sea turtles return home: photos

Ten lucky turtles returned to the sea Sunday afternoon after they were rescued and rehabilitated by the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.

Hundreds of spectators and dozens of volunteers gathered on a small beach in the shadow of the Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays for the event.

Nyx, a juvenile Kemp’s ridley, was rescued from a Mattituck beach in January where he was stranded after becoming cold-stunned when the water temperature dropped dramatically. After months of rehabilitation, Nyx made a remarkable recovery and returned to the water Sunday along with the other turtles, which are all named after Greek gods and titans.

Several of the turtles sported acoustic monitoring tags and will be tracked by a network of researchers.

Click on the images below to enlarge photos.