SEAL BEACH : Regulars Pay Respects to Sam the Sea Turtle

Sam the Sea Turtle is dead, and his friends this week are mourning his passing.

A mascot of Seal Beach surfers and fishermen for two decades, the 200-pound green sea turtle lived in the warm waters of the San Gabriel River flood control channel that empties into the ocean at the 1st Street beach, the city’s most popular surfing spot.

“Everybody who lives there and surfs there, they knew him,” said surfer Steve Littrell, who discovered the dead terrapin washed up on the beach last week. “He was just an old buddy. We all knew him.”

Sam, whose shell was 3 feet in diameter, was about 35 years old, marine biologists said this week, and died of natural causes, probably old age.

Lifeguards called him Snappy, some others called him Myrtle, but the turtle was most commonly known as Sam. He apparently was attracted not only by the warm water of the flood control channel but also by a steady diet of bait fish provided by local fishermen, said Gordon Labedz, a local surfer and Surfrider Foundation spokesman.

“He wasn’t afraid of people. He would come up to you and acknowledge you,” Labedz said. “I don’t know how intelligent turtles are, but he seemed to know we wouldn’t hurt him. He was a fixture here.”

After a National Marine Fisheries Service biologist examined the remains, the turtle was buried in the city yard where public works employees have a graveyard for dolphins and other sea creatures that wash up on local beaches, said Seal Beach Lifeguard Capt. A.J. Summers.

“The guy who examined him said it was the largest green sea turtle he’s ever seen,” Summers said.