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Sea Turtles: Ambassadors of the Sea
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Leatherback
(Dermochelys coriacea)
Critically Endangered
The largest of all turtles, the leatherback can reach over six feet in length and weigh over 2,000 pounds (907 kg). Leatherbacks swim the greatest distances and regularly dive to depths greater than 1,000 meters (3,281 feet). Unlike the plated shells and scaled surfaces of the other sea turtles, the leatherback's shell is a single piece with five distinct ridges.
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Green
(Chelonia mydas)
Endangered
The most widespread of the seven species, the green sea turtle earns its name from the color of its body fat. Its cartilage, called calipee, is the main ingredient in green turtle soup, once highly sought in Europe. Though now illegal to trade in many areas of the world, the green turtle and its eggs continue to be consumed by many coastal peoples.
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Hawksbill
(Eretmochelys imbricata)
Critically Endangered
Named for its sharp, pointed beak, the hawksbill feeds primarily on reef sponges, invertebrate organisms whose bodies contain indigestible glass spicules. The hawksbill has a beautiful, translucent shell, which has been used in tortoiseshell jewelry for centuries, which has contributed to their sharp population declines in recent decades.
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Flatback
(Natator depressus)
Data Deficient (Status Unknown)
The flatback is the least studied of the sea turtles and has one of the smallest geographic ranges. Although they travel into adjacent national waters, flatbacks stay within a relatively small area around northern Australia, southern Indonesia and southern Papua New Guinea.
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Loggerhead
(Caretta caretta)
Endangered
Loggerheads are named for their large heads, with jaws powerful enough to crush an adult queen conch. Like most sea turtles, loogerheads are famed for their vast migrations; for instance, loggerheads that mate and nest in Japan regularly cross the Pacific to feed in Mexican waters.
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Kemp’s Ridley
(Lepidochelys kempii)
Critically Endangered
The Kemp’s Ridley is the smallest of the sea turtles and has a very restricted range, nesting only along the Caribbean shores of northern Mexico and in Texas, USA. Fifty years ago the Kemp’s Ridley was near extinction. This species now shows signs of recovery, although much work remains before it can be considered "in the clear."
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Olive Ridley
(Lepidochelys olivacea)
Endangered
Olive Ridleys are the most abundant of the sea turtles. Like Kemp’s Ridleys, these turtles nest synchronously en masse in a phenomena known as an arribada, Spanish for “arrival.” At their largest nesting population in Orissa, India, hundreds of thousands of females nest each year.
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Ambassadors of the Sea
Earth’s seven species of sea turtle have survived more than 110 million years of evolution and geological change. Fascinating, charismatic and highly visible, they are bellwethers for the condition of the world’s oceans. As our oceans have been devastated by development and industry in the past century, so, too, have sea turtles suffered. Incidental capture in fisheries, destruction of habitat, pollution, consumption by humans and pollution are but a few of the forces that have endangered the biodiversity of marine ecosystems as a whole and the sea turtle in particular.
As such, the sea turtle is a precious ambassador — a strategic tool for engaging the public in marine conservation. Resounding the fate of the sea turtle to audiences across the globe, capitalizing upon the species’ unique character, the SWOT aims to generate far-reaching and long-lasting positive changes to the ways in which industries, cultures and individuals impact sea turtle life, oceanic ecosystems and marine biodiversity as a whole. Only through efforts by dedicated scientists, conservationists and sea turtle enthusiasts have sea turtles been safeguarded from extinction thus far.
Species Information
Seven distinct species of sea turtles grace our oceans today; they constitute a single radiation that was distinct from all other turtles at least 110 million years ago. During that radiation, sea turtles split into two main subgroups, which still exist today: the unique family Dermochelyidae, which consists of a single species, the leatherback; and the six species of hard-shelled sea turtle, in the family Cheloniidae.
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