![]() They prefer tropical reefs where they can eat small plants and animals that live within the reef system. ![]() Hawksbill turtles are rarely seen in North Carolina. Its name, like the loggerhead, comes from the shape of its head. Its head is small with a narrow snout and smooth cutting edges. They can hold their breath longer than any other sea turtle, with some staying underwater more than three hours.Īs an adult, the hawksbill sea turtle can grow to 3 feet in length and may reach as much as 280 pounds. The most unusual fact about green sea turtles is that they occasionally come ashore to bask. Even so, they occasionally nest on one of the southern beaches in North Carolina. This is probably because we have few turtle or eel grass beds in this area for them to eat. They are less common in North Carolina than loggerheads. Green sea turtles are named for the green color of their fat, not their shell as most people think. Green sea turtles are herbivores as adults. They can reach up to five feet and can weigh up to 650 pounds. Green sea turtles are larger than loggerheads. Loggerhead sea turtles have five scutes down each side of their shell, whereas greens only have four. It is possible to count the number of scutes on the shell to identify one from the other. Loggerhead and green sea turtles look similar as adults. Historically, they nested as far north as Virginia. These turtles nest as far north as Ocracoke Inlet in North Carolina and as far south as Florida. Tagged adults have been found thousands of miles from where they were originally marked. Loggerheads tend to travel great distances. Sailors seeing the head poke above the surface to breathe would often mistake them for logs, so they named them loggerheads. They may weigh as much as 500 pounds, but 350 pounds is more common. Some species have been known to swim up to 1900 miles in 23 days, against the current!Ī loggerhead sea turtle’s shell can reach 3-4 feet. Sea turtles travel many miles between nesting and feeding grounds during the year. Only the green sea turtle spends much time eating vegetables. Leathery projections line their throats and protect them from the sting of the jelly’s tentacles. A favorite food of most sea turtles is the jellyfish. Most sea turtles are carnivores, eating crabs, sponges, tunicates, clams and other mollusks. Their jaws are powerful and shaped like a bird’s beak. Like all turtles, sea turtles have no teeth. Because of their streamlined shape of their shell, a sea turtle cannot pull its head and flippers into its shell like a terrestrial turtle. To help them swim, sea turtles shells are very narrow and hydrodynamic. This allows them to move quickly through the water. Unlike terrestrial turtles, sea turtles have flippers instead of feet. Sea turtles are reptiles and therefore are ectothermic (cold blooded), lay eggs, and have scaly skin, claws and lungs. ![]() The image seen here was first posted online by The Los Roques Scientific Foundation in September 2010 and was reportedly taken at the Los Roques Archipelago National Park in Venezuela.Although each of the sea turtles is unique, they share many general characteristics. This long esophagus acts as a holding pouch so that the leatherback can continually digest its food – as parts of its meal leaves the stomach digested, new jellyfish are being pushed into the stomach. So – how on earth can a leatherback fuel it’s body with them? Well, they actually have an extremely long esophagus that leads from the mouth to the rear of the body, and then it loops up the side again until it reaches the stomach, which is about a quarter of the way from the front of the turtle. Now, leatherbacks travel vast distances and require a lot of energy to make these migrations possible – but jellyfish are primarily water, a little protein, some vitamins and minerals, and some fat. The esophageal papillae also protect the leatherback from the stinging cells for the jellyfish – as you can imagine, the jellyfish don’t go down without a fight, so these cartilaginous prongs keep the turtle from being injured by its prey. These prongs are made of cartilage and line the throat of the turtle, and basically grip on to the jellyfish that it’s eating and ensures that it doesn’t slip back out as the turtle uses the muscles in its throat to expel excess salt water. The esophagus of a leatherback sea turtle is lined with papillae, sharp, keratinized prongs that enable the turtle to dine on jellyfish:Īnother adaptation that leatherbacks and a few other sea turtles have is called esophageal papillae. A photograph purportedly showing the insides of a leatherback turtle’s mouth that is frequently shared online is often viewed with a heavy dose of skepticism due to its gruesome and alien-like appearance:
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