Most sea turtle populations are currently in danger of extinction (http://www.iucnredlist.org/) due to numerous factors such as ingestion of debris, degradation of feeding and breeding areas, collision with boats, entanglement in fishing nets, pollution, predation by wild or domestic animals and climate change (Bjorndal, 1995; Herbst and Klein, 1995a; Lutz, 2002; Van Houtan et al., 2010). Many conservation measures seek to mitigate the effect of some of these factors with varying degrees of success (Chaloupka et al., 2008a). However, the emergence of fibropapillomatosis and associated mortalities makes the conservation of these species more than uncertain. Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a neoplastic circumtropical disease increasingly present in the populations of several species of marine turtles (the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) (Harshbarger, 1991), the Kemp’s turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) (Barragan and Sarti, 1994), the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) (D’Amato and Moraes-Neto, 2000), the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) (Aguirre et al., 1999), the flatback turtle (Natator depressus) (Limpus et al., 1993) and the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) (Huerta et al., 2002)), but particularly in green turtles (Chelonia mydas, Williams et al., 1994). This pathology was first observed in Florida in the 1930s (Smith & Coates, 1938) and has been considered an epizootic (epidemic affecting animals) since the 1980s (Aguirre & Lutz, 2004; Farrell et al., 2018; Williams et al., 1994) with prevalence rates which can now reach more than 60% in certain regions (Jones et al., 2016). Surprisingly, these prevalence can show strong variations on a fine spatial scale.