MARATHON -- Gov. Charlie Crist is scheduled to help release an endangered green sea turtle off the Florida Keys at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, and the public is invited to watch.

Crist, along with Monroe County Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro and staff members of the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital, will help carry “Margarita” to the ocean on Little Duck Key, a tiny island at the west end of the Seven Mile Bridge at mile marker 40.

The 278-pound turtle has convalesced at the facility since May 30. It was discovered by U.S. Coast Guard personnel about two miles off Key West’s Mallory Square after becoming entangled in a crab trap line. The turtle’s left front flipper was severely damaged.

Once the turtle arrived at the hospital, a veterinary surgeon operated to remove the mangled flipper and the turtle remained at the facility to recuperate. Turtles that are missing flippers have no problem surviving and even mating and laying eggs, according to Ryan Butts, the hospital administrator.

The Turtle Hospital in Marathon opened in 1986 and is the only licensed veterinary hospital in the world dedicated to the treatment of sea turtles.