Sea Turtles

Information about Sea Turtles:

Sea turtles are large marine reptiles that inhabit most of the earth’s seas – except for the polar regions. These reptiles live nearly their entire lives in the water or right at the edge where the water ends on the beach basking in the sun. Only the females come up on land onto the sandy beaches to lay their eggs. As they are air breathing reptiles, they must surface periodically to gulp air. Not everything is known about how these marine reptiles migrate, but the Leatherback Sea Turtle have the longest migration of them all, sometimes traveling over 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away from the beaches where they laid their eggs. Sea turtles have differently adapted jaws for their food sources.

Green and Black Sea Turtles have serrated jaws to eat sea grasses and algae. They are the only herbivorous of the turtles. Loggerheads and Ridley’s have strong jaws to crush and grind their food, which is generally small crustaceans like crabs, and shrimp, but will also eat jellyfish. Most of the other species eat a variety of animals like sponges, squid and some vegetable matter. Sea turtles are generally solitary, coming together only to mate. They will however been found congregating at ‘Cleaning Stations’ – where small fish will attend to them and pick off parasites.

All sea turtles are considered endangered, but the most endangered is the Kemp’s Ridley, which has suffered a steady decline in population for decades. At one time they would come ashore to lay eggs in the tens of thousands. Now it is believed that number has dropped to only a few hundred.