This turtle is a yellow belly slider, most likely male. At least we can see his somewhat needle-like front claws, although his don't seem to be as pronounced as some males' claws will be. A good tail shot would be helpful to make absolute sure this is a male. Males have a somewhat long, thick tail as compared to a females short, skinny one. Normally yellow belly sliders have a yellow post-ocular bar connecting the cheek stripe with the temple stripe but some, like this individual, do not. Sliders, especially males will often develop melanism as they age as already evident in the temple stripe of this turtle. Notice its dark appearance. The way you can distinguish this yellow belly from being a red-ear slider who is already gaining melanin is by looking at the dark spots on the plastron. Yellow Bellies will normally have the two small eyespots at the front of its plastron like this one does. Occasionally a few others. Red Eared sliders will exhibit these dark spots on all plastral scutes and they will be larger. You can get information on this turtle at this website



http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-yellowbelly.htm



Hope this helps!

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