Green Sea Turtle

Description:

The Green Sea Turtle. The carapace color varies from pale to very dark green and plain to very brilliant yellow, brown and green tones with radiating stripes. The plastron varies from white, dirty white or yellowish in the Atlantic populations to dark grey-bluish-green in the Pacific populations. Hatch lings are dark-brown or nearly black with a white underneath and white flipper margins. These turtles share a Habitat with the "black sea turtle" or the pacific sea turtle. This turtle has a symbiotic relationship with remoras, those fish that stick themselves onto sharks and manta rays, sometimes stick to sea turtles as well.This is mutualism because the turtle doesn't care but the fish get a free ride. The turtles can swim very fast which helps it survive in ts environment. They reproduce sexually and before they get together the male actually courts the female, more that one male can court a female at a time.

Habitat:

Mainly stay near the coastline and around islands and live in bays and protected shores, especially in areas with seagrass beds. Rarely are they observed in the open ocean. they eat mainly seagrass and algae. Sea turtles form food sources for fish such as bass and pike and human beings. Large sea turtles can feed on the smaller species of the sea turtles while frogs and snakes also feed on young sea turtles. They mainly eat and sleep all day, Many divers have seen green turtles sleeping under ledges in reefs and rocks.

Notes:

I saw this sea turtle in playa del carmen at the Xcarat. it was a breeding place for turtles and I got to see some hatch from eggs but this was my favorite picture I took of these amazing creatures.