soft-shelled turtle

Name: Suppon in Japanese, Soft-Shelled Turtle, Trionyx Sinensis Sinensis and Trioyx Sinensis Tuberculatus. 

Distribution: China, Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria, North Vietnam, Japan. Also,after being introduced to new environments, can be found in Singapore, Thailand, Batan Islands and California.

Identification: Soft-shelled turtles are distinctive in appearance - flat, smooth, soft, and rubbery rounded shells- and usually live in fresh-water rivers or ponds, preying on fish, shrimps, spiral shells, and clams as staples. Their backs are olive, dark green or gray according different habitats and their plastrons are white or pink. In addition, they have webbed feet, long, snake-like necks, and elongated, proboscis-like snouts bearing the nostrils. They are antique animals and have lived on Earth for two hundred million years. Female soft-shells are substantially larger than the males.
They often lie buried in mud or sand and occasionally emerge to bask in the sun. Mature female- about 4 years old- lay about ten or more eggs in self-dug cavities and leave the eggs to get hatched naturally. The average lifespan of soft-shelled turtle is about sixty years.

Nutrition: Soft-shelled turtle meat is sweat and contains rich protein, calcium,phosphorus,

 some iron, thiamine, nicotinic acid, keratin, and vitamins A, B1,B2 and D. It is exceptionally

 suitable for nutrition supplement and has been applied in Chinese Medicine cuisine and 

remedy for centuries, as is noted for Bencao Gangmu, most famous Chinese Medicine 

reference book by Li Shizhen. The whole body, especially its abdominal plate, is used for

 edicinal purposes.

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