Green Turtle
Common Name: Green sea turtle - named for the green color of the fat under its shell. (In some areas, the Pacific green turtle is also called the black sea turtle.)
Scientific Name: Chelonia mydas
Status: U.S. - Listed as Endangered (in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future) under the U.S. Federal Endangered Species Act.
International - Listed as Endangered (facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Range: Found in all temperate and tropical waters throughout the world.
Size: Average more than 3 feet in carapace length.
Weight: Adults average 300 to 350 pounds.
Characteristics:Head is small and blunt with a single pair of prefrontal scales (scales in front of its eyes) and a serrated jaw. Carapace is bony without ridges and has large, non-overlapping, scutes (scales) present with only 4 lateral scutes. Body is nearly oval and is more depressed (flattened) compared to Pacific green turtles. All flippers have 1 visible claw. The carapace color varies from pale to very dark green and plain to very brilliant yellow, brown and green tones with radiating stripes. The plastron varies from white, dirty white or yellowish in the Atlantic populations to dark grey-bluish-green in the Pacific populations. Hatchlings are dark-brown or nearly black with a white underneath and white flipper margins.
For comparison, the Pacific green turtle (aka Black Sea Turtle) has a body that is strongly elevated or vaulted and looks less round in a frontal view than other green sea turtles. The color is where you see the biggest difference with Pacific greens having a dark grey to black carapace and the hatchlings are a dark-brown or black with narrow white border with white underneath.
Habitat: Mainly stay near the coastline and around islands and live in bays and protected shores. Rarely are they observed in the open ocean.
Diet: Changes significantly during its life. When less than 8 to 10 inches in length eat worms, young crustaceans, aquatic insects, grasses and algae. Once green turtles reach 8 to 10 inches in length, they mostly eat sea grass and algae, the only sea turtle that is strictly herbivorous as an adult. Their jaws are finely serrated which aids them in tearing vegetation.
Nesting: Nest at intervals of 2, 3, or more years. Nests between 3 to 5 times per season. Lays an average of 115 eggs in each nest. Eggs incubate for about 60 days.
Population Estimate*: 203,000 nesting females.
* Please understand that world wide population numbers for sea turtle species do not exist and that these are estimates of the number of nesting females based on nesting beach monitoring reports and publications from the early to mid 1990s.
Source: CCCTurtle.Org
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