Not long ago, a male villager in Zhaowan Village, Nanyang, Henan Province accidentally picked up a big one at night. Chinese turtle? I weigh 46 kg, which shocked many people to come and watch. Someone offered 20 thousand yuan, but he refused to sell it. Finally, out of the principle of maintaining the ecological environment, he released this century-old turtle to Zhaowan Reservoir. However, after watching the video, some reptile experts said that this is actually a Florida turtle, which is considered to be an alien harmful species and cannot be released casually. China soft-shelled turtle and Florida soft-shelled turtle are very similar in appearance and easy to be misjudged. Let's look at the differences between these two animals.

Trionyx sinensis is a native animal in China, with different body shapes and growth rates. Due to the genetic limitation of species, its body size is generally about 3 to 6 kilograms, and its growth rate is relatively slow. Florida soft-shelled turtle, also known as pearl soft-shelled turtle and American soft-shelled turtle, is an alien harmful species from the United States and belongs to carnivores. The body is relatively large, and the adult weighs more than 40 kilograms. If it is fed well, it will grow even bigger. The growth speed of Florida soft-shelled turtle is quite fast, usually it can grow to more than 40 kilograms in a few years, and it can grow to 10 kilograms in the first year, so the growth speed and body shape of China soft-shelled turtle can't be compared at all. If you want to distinguish between the two, you can see it at a glance from the body shape.

The appearance and color are different. From the color point of view, the shell of wild turtle is yellowish brown or turquoise; The Trionyx sinensis in Florida is brown in adulthood, and many Trionyx sinensis living in the wild will also turn brown due to environmental impact. The shell of Trionyx sinensis in China is not so oval in appearance, while that of Trionyx sinensis in Florida is nearly oval, and there are many pearl-like protrusions on the front edge of the shell, which is why it is called pearl turtle.

In addition, the Florida soft-shelled turtle and the China soft-shelled turtle are different in the nature of survival. Trionyx sinensis is a protozoan in China. It can live in harmony with all kinds of animals in rivers, lakes and reservoirs in the wild without any obvious harm, and it belongs to a normal part of the natural ecological chain. The situation of Florida soft-shelled turtle is different. It is an alien invasive species from the United States, which will threaten the normal biological chain in the wild environment. In other words, the Florida turtle is a carnivore with a large appetite. In order to make its body grow rapidly, it will eat a lot of frogs, fish and shrimp, snails and mussels in the water, which will destroy the animal ecological chain and be an alien harmful species. Florida turtles can't be released at will. If you put this turtle in any pool, the small animals in this pool will be easily eaten up and extinct by it.