Steps away from New York’s historic Coney Island boardwalk, an endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) named Pancake was released into the Atlantic Ocean today. An excited crowd cheered and waved homemade signs supporting Pancake. The turtle officially returned to the water at 1:13 p.m. EDT, while a crowd cheered the little reptile on, “Pancake, Pancake, Pancake!”

“It’s [the release] significant because they’re an endangered species,” Dr. Maia Austin, a a postdoctoral researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Bight program, tells Popular Science. “They have been a really big conservation success story, in that, they had a really big population crash in the ’70s, and through a lot of great international conservation efforts, it’s really rebounding. So I think every individual that we can help is a great success for all of us.”

Representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), New York State Department of State (DOS), Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), environmental organizations, elected officials, and New York Aquarium campers and youth leaders, all gathered on the beach to watch Pancake make its way back home.

Ahead of the release, Austin saw Pancake looking very active and the reptile appeared ready to swim and go back home. Pancake will be wearing a satellite tag on its shell, so that the team can monitor its progress.

“I think success just looks like it going back into its habitat and, you know, feeding and then hopefully continuing its migration back to the Gulf later in the season,” says Austin.

On November 22, 2025, the Massachusetts Audubon Society found Pancake suffering from cold stunning in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Pancake was then brought to the New England Aquarium for triage and medical treatment. On December 3, Pancake and 24 other Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were transferred to the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS) sea turtle triage facility in Westhampton Beach, New York, for treatment and rehabilitation.

Pancake weighs 11 pounds and is likely two to five years old. Over the past seven months, Pancake has made a strong recovery, showing confident swimming behavior, particularly while pursuing shrimp and clams. The turtle’s sex is unknown because that requires a blood test, which is not needed for rehabilitation.

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the smallest sea turtle species. They are found throughout the East Coast, from the south up towards New England. When fully grown, they can weigh 70 to 100 pounds and grow to two feet long.