THIS sad photograph could mark the end of the line for Phuket's remarkable leatherback turtles. It's the remains of a male, a giant of 200 kilos, about 20 years old. The carcass was washed up at Bang Tao beach yesterday.

Phuket Marine Biology Centre specialist Dr Kongkiat Kittwattanawong said that he feared the death of the male could signify the end of an era. He pleaded for trawlers to be careful, because 60 percent of turtle deaths are from nets.

Locals who were around when leatherbacks were plentiful say that it was a time of great joy whenever a female came ashore to lay eggs, ''looking as big as a Honda Jazz.''

That may sound an exaggeration but the leatherback is the largest turtle. One specimen weighed in at above 900 kilometres and longer than three metres.

The laying of two batches of eggs by leatherbacks earlier this year led biologists to hope that the big creatures might be returning to Phuket. However, the eggs were not fertilised, so there were no hatchlings.

Hence the concern . . . could this have been the last adult male leatherback capable of continuing the breed off the Phuket coast? There is no way of knowing for sure, but every moment of hope for the return of leatherbacks has so far been dashed.

There are too many reasons why the big turtles cannot come back.

Leatherbacks have so far proven virtually impossible to breed in hatcheries. Unlike other turtles, the young leatherbacks cannot turn.

The result is that they beat themselves to death by repeatedly swimming straight into walls.

The decades-old photographs of huge leatherbacks laying eggs in the sand along Phuket beaches may soon be the only evidence that the wonderful creatures were once here.

Last night the large male leatherback, dead for about two weeks, was buried under the sand at Bang Tao.