Corozalito: a nascent arribada nesting beach in Costa Rica

Costa Rica hosts two renowned olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) arribada beaches: Nancite and Ostional. In addition, the country hosts a third nascent arribada beach in Corozalito. We documented the frequency of arribada events in Corozalito (9°50′55.40″ N; 85°22′ 47.67″ W) from 2008 to 2021 and the abundance of egg-laying females during 12 arribadas. Moreover, we report on tag recaptures at Corozalito that were initially deployed at other nesting beaches in Costa Rica. Finally, we estimated incubation temperature, and performed quadrat and nest excavations to estimate hatching rates. We registered 29 arribadas at Corozalito since 2008, all between August and January. We estimated more than 150,000 olive ridleys nested during 12 arribadas from 2019 to 2021. Mean hatching success was 65% in quadrats and 59% for in situ marked nests. The mean incubation temperature was 32.3 °C. We found turtles tagged at other locations on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica nesting at Corozalito, providing evidence of philopatric plasticity. We suggest nascent arribada rookeries form rapidly via recruitment from regional turtle aggregations. Our findings show that hatching success is far higher at Corozalito than Ostional or Nancite. Continued monitoring of nesting dynamics at this site may shed light upon the mechanisms that rule how arribada beaches are born and evolve. Corozalito offers a unique opportunity to study and understand the arribada phenomenon and warrants official protection under official National Wildlife Refuge status.