] RIVIERA BEACH, Florida (AP) -- Capt. Jeff Ardelean uses ] night-vision goggles to scan the shoreline. A grainy dark ] blob emerges from the bright whitecaps of the waves and ] crawls onto the gray sand. ] ] Shrouded in darkness, a loggerhead sea turtle drags her ] heavy body with her front flippers about 50 feet (15 ] meters) up on shore. Her body strains each time she drops ] three or four pinkish-white eggs into the sandy hole. In ] all, she'll leave between 75 and 125 eggs, cover them ] with sand and lumber back into the sea. ] ] Ardelean's job is to make sure those eggs remain ] undisturbed until they hatch. He oversees 18 state ] wildlife investigators who patrol southeastern Florida ] shores for turtle egg poachers. ] ] "After you watch a turtle go through all that, that's ] when you get the satisfaction," Ardelean said. ] ] All five species of sea turtles in Florida are protected, ] and the loggerhead is a threatened species. The stretch ] of beach where the loggerhead laid her eggs is one of the ] most poached in Florida. The eggs, considered an ] aphrodisiac in some Caribbean cultures, are eaten raw or ] soft-boiled with salt and red pepper. ] ] Nearby are two active black markets for the eggs, one in ] Riviera Beach and another five miles (eight kilometers) ] south in West Palm Beach. Patrolling for turtle egg poachers |