Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Green Sea Turtle

Chelonia mydas

Description:

Photo take at -40 ft this green sea turtle usually have lunch on this area cover whit manatee grass near a coral reef is one of the local inhabitants of this reef.. The green sea turtle, possessing a dorsoventrally flattened body covered by a large, teardrop-shaped carapace and a pair of large, paddle-like flippers. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world ,top shell carapace is smooth with shades of black, gray, green, brown, and yellow; their bottom shell plastron is yellowish white.

Habitat:

Adult green turtles are unique among sea turtles in that they eat only plants; they are herbivorous, feeding primarily on seagrasses and algae. This diet is thought to give them greenish-colored fat, from which they take their name.Adult females migrate from foraging areas to mainland or island nesting beaches and may travel hundreds or thousands of kilometers each way. After emerging from the nest, hatchlings swim to offshore areas, where they are believed to live for several years, feeding close to the surface on a variety of pelagic plants and animals. Once the juveniles reach a certain age/size range, they leave the pelagic habitat and travel to nearshore foraging grounds. Once they move to these nearshore benthic habitats, adult green turtles are almost exclusively herbivores, feeding on sea grasses and algae.

Notes:

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has repeatedly listed green sea turtles in its Red List as an endangered species.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

5 Comments

Gerardo Aizpuru
Gerardo Aizpuru 11 years ago

Thanks Jolly and Carol :):)

Jolly Ibañez
Jolly Ibañez 11 years ago

Breath taking pictures. Very nice series and educational too. thanks Gerardo for sharing.

CarolSnowMilne
CarolSnowMilne 11 years ago

wonderful photos and information again

Gerardo Aizpuru
Gerardo Aizpuru 11 years ago

Thanks Shanna :):)

ShannaB
ShannaB 11 years ago

Absolutely stunning series, Gerardo. Amazing shots of a beautiful animal.

Gerardo Aizpuru
Spotted by
Gerardo Aizpuru

Mexico

Spotted on Jun 9, 2012
Submitted on Jun 9, 2012

Related Spottings

Turtle Green Sea Turtle Tukik Green sea turtle

Nearby Spottings

Green Sea Turtle Pink Bush Alga Neotropic cormorant Lionfish

Reference

Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team