A sea turtle that was rescued from a fishing hook in Alabama died in a Mississippi aquarium 8 days later

• A sea turtle died at Mississippi Aquarium after he was accidentally hooked and rescued on October 7.
• The turtle was hooked at a state park fishing pier in Alabama and brought to the aquarium for care.

A sea turtle was found dead Friday a week after he was rescued from accidental hooking and brought to Mississippi Aquarium, the Associated Press reported.

Jacob Mitchum, a security officer at the Gulf State Park Fishing Pier in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where the loggerhead sea turtle was accidentally hooked, took the fishing pole and delicately guided the turtle to a pier, the AP reported. Then, park manager Aubrey Bianco and assistant naturalists took the turtle to the Mississippi state line, where they met Dr. Sean Perry, an aquarium veterinarian, according to the report.

A representative from Mississippi Aquarium didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

At 97 pounds, the turtle was anemic and protein deficient, according to veterinary services. Adult loggerheads typically weigh 200 to 350 pounds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But this one was not an adult yet, Alexa Delaune, the aquarium's vice president for veterinary services, told the AP.

After the turtle died, an exam found two additional hooks piercing the turtle's small intestine, which could've lead to an infection, Deluane said.

Another hook was anchored in his stomach, Deluane told the AP.

"The line from the hook extended down into the small intestines and caused them to become all bunched up," she told the AP. This blocked the turtle's large intestine.

"Any one of these problems alone could kill an animal and he was dealing with all of them," she wrote in an email to the AP.

Duluane said the turtle's shell was probably damaged from a boat propeller, too, and he had barnacles covering his head and body.

Before he died, veterinary services thought the turtle was female, according to the AP.

There are more loggerheads nesting in the US than any other species, but they're also endangered on the west coast and threatened on the east coast and the Gulf of Mexico, the AP reported.