The Physical Characteristics Of The Hawksbill Sea Turtles

The green sea turtle occurs throughout tropical and subtropical oceans and is among the largest of the hard-shelled sea turtles growing to as much as 440 pounds and four feet in length. The breeding populations in Florida were listed as endangered in 1978 (43 FR 32800 32811, July 28, 1978) whereas all other populations were listed as threatened (NOAA 2015h). There is a proposal for identification of a North Atlantic green sea turtle distinct population that would be listed as threatened, continuing its current listing status near New York (80 FR 51763 51764, August 26, 2015). They are found in the shallow waters (except during migration) of shoals, bays, lagoons reefs, and inlets, often where submerged aquatic vegetation exists, from Maine south to Florida, and throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea (USFWS 2015n, 2015o; NOAA 2015e). Green sea turtles nests are not present in New York; however, they occasionally are found stranded on or near the shore (NYSDEC 2015ad). Breeding takes places in subtropical to tropical oceans every two, three, or four years between June and September, with peak nesting in June and July (NOAA 2015h; USFWS 2015u). Hatching usually occurs at night, and many green sea turtle hatchlings seek refuge and food in masses of floating sea plants (USFWS

Some species may see increases from declines of loggerhead sea turtles. Loggerhead turtles are species generalists and compete with other carnivorous predators whose diets overlap with theirs (Bjorndal 2003). Juvenile loggerheads and Kemp’s ridleys in waters around Long Island have substantial diet overlap and a decline in loggerhead sea turtles may reduce the amount of competition for prey, allowing the Kemps ridleys access to more

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists Tomo Eguchi and Jeff Seminoff made oceanic history by releasing the first juvenile loggerhead sea turtle into the West Coast of the United States, with a transmitter attacked to its body. This exploration is going to aid scientists in getting a better understanding of what type of habitats juvenile loggerheads live in prior to participating in the years prior to participation in migration. Scientists are hopping to gain a better understanding of where juvenile loggerheads live for the sake protecting their habitats from fisherman. As of now, scientists have predicted that juvenile loggerheads tend to inhabit the same environments as swordfish. This is extremely dangerous to the lives of sea turtles considering that swordfish are heavily hunted by many fishermen. Therefore, if scientist theories are correct, the loggerheads are living in very dangerous environments. This exploration was initiated when a Coast Guard vessel found the loggerhead and took it to the Aquarium of the Pacific, where it would receive medical attention.

Logger Head Turtles are primarily carnivores for most of their lives, meaning they mainly eat other animals (Marine Bio, 2015). Hatchlings mostly eat sponges, jellyfish, sargassum weed, small gastropods and crustaceans (Marine Bio, 2015). Juveniles, sub-adults and adults feed on conch, clams, horseshoe crabs, as well as other crustaceans (Marine Bio, 2015). As the turtles grow, their jaws get stronger (Harrison, 2005). This helps them to eat much firmer food such as Horseshoe crabs and clams (Harrison, 2005). The loggerhead turtle sexual maturity is reached between 22 to 27 years of age (Environment, 2001). While it is not clear how long a juvenile loggerhead turtle will stay in the open ocean, once it moves to its feeding

Natural selection has shaped the leatherback sea turtle in a myriad of ways, bringing it to its present form. Bolstering its ability to survive, the leatherback's flexible and rubbery shell texture give the species and more hydrodynamic structure, allowing them to dive to depths of 4,200 feet. Leatherbacks are also able to maintain warm body temperatures in cold water by using a unique set of adaptations that allow them to both generate and retain body heat.

The Blanding turtle are freshwater medium sized turtle usually found in The Great Lakes Regions in USA and in Canada. They are from the omnivorous species and usually eat crayfish, small animals, and plants. Their life histories traits occurs between April and November, as May and April tend to be more for mating and Early June for nesting. Less than half of these females will actually go on to reproducing. Many of these turtles can actually live up to sixty to a hundred years in age. Though these turtles spend a majority of time in the aquatics they also come on to the mainland. This is were the problem starts to occur and this is why the Blanding sea turtles are currently threatened and may soon be extinct. It is because of us humans that these species are currently facing habitat loss, have threatened nesting areas, and are unable to get from nesting areas to the lakes because of manmade roads. Why should we as humans care so much if these Blanding’s turtles go extinct? These turtles play an important

Sea turtle hatchlings are now having trouble finding their way to the sea because of all the lights from buildings that are built on the coast. They get disoriented when they are born and will wander in the wrong way away from the sea. This leads them to predators that live inland or will even cause the turtle to become dehydrated and die. Humans are also building coastal armoring that is blocking female turtles from reaching a suitable nesting habitat. This is a severe problem in Florida where they have many coastal rock elevations and sand bags. Where all this beach development is occurring thousands of sea turtles are trying to nest. Beach dredging is also having a direct effect on sea turtle's trying to nest. If the sand is too impacted or is drastically different from native beach sediment, the mother will have trouble creating the

The species’ plastron bears similar markings to those of the carapace, i.e., wide, pale-yellow stripes on a darker background. Between the pectoral and the abdominal plastral scutes, the species’ plastron features a flexible hinge that divides the plastron into two lobes. The combination of a relative long, hinged plastron and a high-domed carapace enables the ornate box turtle to completely withdraw into its shell, thereby “boxing” itself inside and protecting the soft tissues of its head, limbs and tail quite effectively against attacks by predators.

This stage is generally short in duration. During the hatchling stage, the carapace is about 4.5 centimeters in length. In one study, hatchlings were found to have an average weight of 19.6 grams (Le Buff 1990). The carapace and plastron undergo significant changes after hatching. Hatchlings have two longitudinal ridges on the plastron, which disappear as they grow older. In both hatchlings and juveniles, the vertebral scutes are wider. As they age, the length increases to be greater than the width (Dodd 1988). In hatchlings, the color of the dorsum is dark brown or reddish brown (Kamezaki 2003). Its beak and cheeks are dark brown and its neck is yellow-ochre. The carapace is reddish-brown and darker between the ridge (Dodd 1988). The plastron varies in color and can be creamy white, reddish, or dark brown. Color variations for hatchlings have been observed even within the same clutch (Kamezaki 2003). Hatchlings generally emerge onto the beach surface two days or more after hatching (Miller et al. 2003). Prior to hatching, the nest chamber volume is reduced by hatchling loggerheads as they move to the surface en masse by periodic group thrashing, which scrapes sand from the side of the chamber to the floor, and allows hatchlings to reach the surface. Hatchling activity decreases with an increase in sand temperature, which

Have you ever wanted to learn about turtles, particularly leatherback turtles?You will learn about these satisfactory turtles.You might learn something.You might not.This essay will provide information on the leatherback sea turtle and discuss its appearance,habitat and diet,and give you some interesting facts about it.

The Leatherback sea turtle is one of seven different turtle spices in the world. It inhabits three major tropical bodies of water: Pacific, Atlantic, and the Indian Oceans [2]. According to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [1] the leatherback sea turtle (Demochelys coriacea) is at a vulnerable state. With its geographically widespread distribution, the species is doing well in population size. A unique aspect about this turtle is that its diet consists only of soft-bodied animals, such as jellyfish. [16]. Hence, the research question being discusses in this paper being: How and why does the leatherback sea turtle eat only jellyfish? And what dangers do they face with migration? With research from many scientific journals, the following thesis was concluded. Leatherback sea turtles survive and feed exclusively on jellyfish because of their adapted anatomy and for migratory purpose such as foraging and mating while facing dangers of lengthy migrations due to humans.

“Leatherbacks have the longest migration of all sea turtles. They have been found more than 4,831 km (3,000 miles) from their nesting beaches.” (SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment). This evidence shows how long a leatherback has to travel, which is the longest out of all the 7 species of sea turtles. Loggerheads, not so much. “Loggerheads leave foraging areas and travel on breeding migrations that can be a few thousand kilometers (1 kilometer = 0.62 miles) each way.” (SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment). This evidence shows the traveling distance of a loggerhead, which is the shortest distance out of all of the 7 species. But something also stands out from the loggerhead migration. The loggerheads traveling varies on the breeding migration, which is different from the rest, as they travel from nesting to feeding

Have you ever seen or heard of sea turtles? There are 7 different species of sea turtles that we know of today. Today I will be discussing the species known as leatherback sea turtles. I will be discussing the different characteristics that make leatherback sea turtles animals. The characteristics of life are cells, levels of cellular organization, use energy, responding to their environment, growing, reproduction, and adapting to their environment.

Introduction: The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) was named as a threatened species on July 28, 1978. Loggerhead turtles are the most common type of sea turtle. In addition, they are the only sea turtle that still regularly nests on beaches from New Jersey to Texas.

Description: it is called leatherback sea turtle because of its tough and leather like shell, it has four limbs, can grow up to 180 cm long and weigh up to 500 kg, out of the 7 different types of sea turtles it is the only one that doesn’t have a hard shell, their skin color can either be grey or black with white spots, it average lifespan is 40 to 45 years, its scientific