Teen Scientist Wins $10,000 for Figuring Out Why Green Sea Turtles Are Growing Tumors (2024)

During the pandemic, a teen scientist named Maddux Alexander Springer spent a lot of time in the ocean off Oahu. Most of the time, he was free diving in Kāneʻohe Bay, which was just a stone’s throw from his home. After a while, he began to notice something troubling: many of the green sea turtles he spotted had strange tumors growing on them. So Springer decided he’d do something about it. That something ended up netting him $10,000.

Springer, 18, loves diving in the ocean. He loves it because it gives him a sense of being a part of something he’s not really supposed to be privy to.

“It’s almost like you’re an alien,” Springer told Business Insider. “You’re just there by yourself in this environment that you don’t really belong in.”

The tumors Springer was seeing ranged in size. Some turtles were swimming along just fine with them, but others were clearly in dire straits.

“They were just gross masses that were anywhere from the size of a penny to the size of a football. And it would just encapsulate the green sea turtles,” he said. “They’re on their eyes, their skin, their flippers, everywhere. And there would just be turtles on the bottom of the ocean just dying there with these tumors.”

After doing a bit of research on the internet, Springer figured out what, exactly, was going on with the sea turtles. It was something called fibropapillomatosis (FP), and it’s very common in sea turtles. According to NOAA, some 97 percent of them are affected by it, but no one really understands how it spreads.

“It causes cauliflower-like tumors to form on the skin anywhere on the body, including the eyes and mouth,” NOAA explained. “Tumors can also form in internal organs. Some sea turtles only have mild forms of the disease whereas others develop numerous or large tumors that result in debilitation and death. The disease most commonly affects green turtles in some areas of the U.S., including locations in Florida, Hawaii, Texas, and Puerto Rico.”

Springer wasn’t going to sit idly by while sea turtles were suffering in his backyard, so he spent the next two-and-a-half years looking for a solution. Sea turtles are exceedingly important to the marine ecosystem off Oahu, as they eat algae that, if allowed to grow unchecked, would eventually suffocate the coral reefs.

At the beginning of his sea-turtle-saving journey, he applied for a permit that would allow him to biopsy the tumors, but he wasn’t given one. Undeterred, he set up underwater cameras that turned on when things swam in front of them to closely observe the tumor-laden turtles. It confirmed his suspicions that FP was extremely prevalent in the sea turtle population off of Oahu.

FP is caused by the herpesvirus, but before it turns into tumors, something has to activate it. Springer’s cameras showed him that not only were most of the turtles infected by it, but that much of the algae growing on the reefs was invasive. The sea turtles didn’t know that, though, and they were eating it like it was the algae they have evolved to eat.

But the herpesvirus that causes FP must be activated by an external factor before it can produce those tumors. Previous biopsies of green sea turtle tumors had shown that they contained high levels of the amino acid arginine. Maybe that was the trigger, but where would the turtles get so much arginine?

Algae is a sea turtle’s main food source, and they’re not picky eaters. They’ll eat whatever type is available. Through a photo survey, Springer found that most of the algae in Kāneʻohe Bay is invasive.

Springer told Business Insider that the invasive algae is really, really good at absorbing sewage that’s in the water around it. It takes the nitrogen in the wastewater and turns it into arginine, which is then eaten by the sea turtles. And wouldn’t you know it? That arginine can trigger FP in sea turtles.

The way he found that the algae was chock full of arginine is an impressive feat. After school and on weekends, he’d collect samples of the invasive algae, drying it, crushing it up in a powder, then sending that powder to a lab to break it down into the different elements contained within.

And so, after nearly three years of diving, collecting samples, and testing them, Spring was able to make the connection between the sea turtle tumors and good old fashioned pollution.

“I believe this study shows that there is a significant relationship between wastewater output and this disease,” he said.

Since research done by students isn’t held to the same exacting standards — like peer reviews — as studies published in scientific journals, it’s not 100 percent a sure link… but it’s pretty dang close. More studies will be conducted on the back of his work, but his work was enough for a $10,000 Peggy Scripps Award for Science Communication awarded at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.

“It was an incredible feeling, just having my research validated,” he said. “It’s been a very long time since I have felt like some change can be made from my research.”

Many homes in Hawaii use cesspools instead of septic tanks, which can allow untreated sewage to flow directly into the ocean. Springer thinks that, in order to keep the arginine levels in the algae down, something needs to be done about those cesspools.

“If we continue to go at this rate,” he said, “and if we continue to just release raw wastewater into the bay, the environmental devastation is going to be unparalleled… This isn’t just about turtles.”