Trionychidae

As food

In East Asia

Softshell turtles are eaten as a delicacy in most parts of their range, particularly in East Asia. A Chinese dish stews them with chicken. According to a 1930 report by Soame Jenyns, Guangdong restaurants had them imported from Guangxi in large numbers; "eaten stewed with almonds, roast with chili sauce or fried with bamboo shoots, they [were] considered a great delicacy."

Worldwide, the most commonly consumed softshell species is the Chinese softshell Pelodiscus sinensis. As a noted Japanese biologist Kakichi Mitsukuri pointed out in 1904, the Japanese variety of this turtle, which at time was classified as Trionyx japonicus, occupied a place in Japanese cuisine as esteemed as the diamondback terrapin in the United States or the green turtle in England. The farming of this "luscious reptile", known in Japan as suppon, was already developed on an industrial scale in that country by the late 19th century.

Due to rising demand and overhunting, the price of P. sinensis in China skyrocketed by the mid-1990s; large-scale turtle farming in China and neighboring countries, raising this species by hundreds of millions was the response, with prices soon returning to a more affordable level. Another species, Palea steindachneri, is farmed in China, as well, but on a much smaller scale (with farm herds measured in hundreds of thousands, rather than hundreds of millions).

In the United States

In the United States, harvesting softshells (e.g. Apalone ferox) was, until recently, legal in Florida. Environmental groups have been advocating the authorities' banning or restricting the practice. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded by introducing the daily limit of 20 turtles for licensed harvesters—a level which the turtle advocates consider unsustainable, as between 100 and 500 people may hunt them statewide. While some catch was consumed locally, most was exported; the commission estimated (2008) around 3,000 lb of softshell turtles were exported to China each week via Tampa International Airport.

New rules, in effect as of July 20, 2009, restrict collecting any wild turtles to one turtle per person per day, completely prohibit collection of softshells (Apalone) in May through July, and prohibit trade in turtles caught from the wild. An exemption is provided for licensed turtle farms that need to catch turtles in the wild to serve as their breeding stock.

Some other US states, too, have already adopted strict limitations on wild turtle trade. In 2009, South Carolina passed a law (Bill H.3121) restricting interstate and international export of wild-caught turtles (both soft-shell and some other species) to 10 turtles per person at one time, and 20 turtles per person per year.

Taxonomy

Family Trionychidae

• Genus †Kappachelys
• Genus †Kuhnemys
• Genus †Striatochelys
• Subfamily †Plastomeninae
  • Genus †Gilmoremys
  • Genus †Hutchemys
  • Genus †Plastomenus
• Subfamily Cyclanorbinae
  • Genus Cyclanorbis
  • Genus Cycloderma
  • Genus Lissemys
• Subfamily Trionychinae
  • Genus Amyda, Amyda menneri
  • Genus Apalone
  • Genus †Axestemys
  • Genus Chitra, Chitra minor
  • Genus Dogania
  • Genus Nilssonia
  • Genus Palea
  • Genus Pelochelys
  • Genus Pelodiscus
  • Genus Rafetus
  • Genus Trionyx

Past classification

• Genus Aspideretes

Phylogeny

The following cladogram shows the relationships among the species: