Select Facts About Sea Turtles
Hawaii Sea Turtles
Snorkeling
with Hawaiian
Green Sea Turtles
Green Sea Turtles
Hawksbill
Sea Turtles
Leatherback
Sea Turtles
Olive
Ridley Sea Turtles
Loggerhead
Sea Turtles
Sea Turtle
History
Sea
Turtle Protection
Threats
Currently Facing
Sea Turtles
Sea
Turtles
References and Links
|
Green
Sea Turtle - Chelonia mydas
The most common or the three native Hawaiian
species is the green sea turtle. The largest of the hard-shelled
turtles, Green Sea Turtles weigh up to 440 pounds and measuring
up to 4 feet. People often notice that, other than algae
growing on their shell, Green Sea Turtles are not very green.
They actually were named for the green color of their fatty
tissues, due to their diet of green limu (seaweed). Hawaiian
Green Sea Turtle shells are mostly dark brown and may be
covered with patches of green algae. In a symbiotic relationship,
they are sometimes cleaned by small fish that pick at the
algae, feeding the fish and cleaning the turtle.
Little is known about sea turtles' early
lives. Researchers call the first few years or the turtle’s
life the lost years. Green Sea turtles float in open ocean
(pelagic) currents feeding on a carnivorous (animal based)
diet. At 3-5 years of age, they move closer to shore where
they feed on limu (algae and seagrass).
Slow-growing reptiles, Hawaii Green Sea Turtles
do not reach sexual maturity until somewhere between 10
and 59 years of age, on average 25 years. Until maturity
it is difficult to tell males from females. Upon maturity
the males are identified by tails that are thick and long,
females by short, stubby tails.
Development around the world has destroyed
many green sea turtle nesting beaches. More than 90% of
Hawaii’s Green Sea Turtles nesting activity takes
place from 800 to 1500 miles away, as far as French Frigate
Shoals in the isolated Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National
Wildlife Refuge. The males follow the females on this migration
and breeding takes place off the nesting beaches. Hawaiian
green turtles breed every two or more years. From late April
through September, females lay their eggs above the high
water line. They haul their heavy bodies across the beach
where they dig a pit for their own bodies, then a flask-shaped
nest where they deposit the eggs. They can deposit up to
seven clutches of eggs at 12 to 14 day intervals. They cover
the eggs with sand using their flippers and return to the
sea leaving the nest full of round, leathery eggs to incubate
in the warm sand until they hatch. All the hatchlings contribute
to the job of not being buried alive as they struggle to
unbury themselves once they hatch.
NEXT
PAGE - Hawksbill and Leatherback Sea Turtles
|
