 Florida Sea Turtles
From May to September, many consider Florida's
central east coast to be the top sea turtle nesting area in the United
States. It's during this time that the female sea turtle makes her way
up the beach and lays about 100 eggs in the sand. It takes the eggs two
months to hatch at which point the youngsters make a mad dash for the
ocean.
Florida is an important place for the endangered and
threatened sea turtles of the world. Sea turtles nest on our beaches,
forage for food in our estuaries, and all too often wash-up dead on our
shoreline. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission staff are
dedicated to protecting sea turtles in Florida and learning as much as
possible about the biology and life history of these elusive animals.
Places in Florida to see turtles include Juno Beach
Marinelife Center and John D. MacArthur Beach State Park.
Books on Florida Sea Turtles
Types of Turtles
LOGGERHEAD TURTLE (Caretta caretta)
The most common sea turtle in Florida, the loggerhead is named for its
massive, block-like head. Loggerheads are among the larger sea turtles;
adults weigh an average of 275 pounds and have a shell length of about 3
feet. Its carapace, which is a ruddy brown on top and creamy yellow
underneath, is very broad near the front of the turtle and tapers toward
the rear. Each of its flippers has two claws. As is true for all sea
turtles, the adult male has a long tail, whereas the female's tail is
short; however, a juvenile's cannot be determined externally.
The powerful jaws of the loggerhead turtle allow it to easily crush the
clams, crabs, and other armored animals it eats. A slow swimmer compared
to other sea turtles, the loggerhead occasionally falls prey to sharks,
and individuals missing flippers or chunks of their shell are not an
uncommon sight. However, the loggerhead compensates for its lack of
speed with stamina; for example, a loggerhead that had been tagged at
Melbourne Beach was captured off the coast of Cuba 11 days later.
GREEN TURTLE (Chelonia mydas)
Green turtles, named for their green body fat, were valued by European
settlers in the New World for their meat, hide, eggs, and “calipee” (the
fat attached to the lower shell that formed the basis of the popular
green turtle soup). Merchants learned that the turtles could be kept
alive by turning them on their backs in a shaded area. This discovery
made it possible to ship fresh turtles to overseas markets. By 1878,
15,000 green turtles a year were shipped from Florida and the Caribbean
to England. At one time, Key West was a major processing center for the
trade. The turtles were kept in water-filled pens known as “kraals,” or
corrals. These corrals now serve a more benign role as a tourist
attraction.
A more streamlined-looking turtle than the bulky loggerhead, the green
turtle weighs an average of 350 pounds and has a small head for its body
size. Its oval-shaped upper shell averages 3.3 feet in length and is
olive-brown with darker streaks running through it; its lower shell, or
plastron, is yellow.
Green turtles are found during the day in shallow flats and seagrass
meadows and return every evening to their usual sleeping
quarters—scattered rock ledges, oyster bars, and coral reefs. Adult
green turtles are unique among sea turtles in that they are largely
vegetarians, consuming primarily seagrasses and algae. Approximately 100
to 1,000 green turtles nest on Florida’s beaches each year from June
through late September.
LEATHERBACK TURTLES (Dermochelys coriacea)
The leatherback turtle is a fascinating and unique animal, even among sea
turtles. It is larger, dives deeper, travels farther, and tolerates
colder waters than any other sea turtle. Most leatherbacks average 6
feet in length and weigh from 500 to 1,500 pounds, but the largest
leatherback on record was nearly 10 feet long and weighed more than
2,000 pounds.
Leatherbacks look distinctively different from other sea turtles.
Instead of a shell covered with scales or shields, leatherbacks are
covered with a firm, leathery skin and have seven ridges running
lengthwise down their backs. They are usually black with white, pink,
and blue splotches and have no claws on their flippers. Leatherbacks eat
soft-bodied animals such as jellyfish, and their throat cavity and
scissor-like jaws are lined with stiff spines that aid in swallowing
this soft and slippery prey. Young leatherbacks in captivity can consume
twice their weight in jellyfish daily.
True denizens of the deep, leatherback turtles are capable of descending more
than 3,000 feet and of traveling more than 3,000 miles from their
nesting beach. They are found throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and
Indian oceans, as far north as Alaska and Labrador. Researchers have
found that leatherbacks are able to regulate their body temperature so
that they can survive in cold waters. The leatherback is found in
Florida’s coastal waters, and a small number (from 30 to 60 a year) nest
in the state.
Important Contacts
Report injured or dead sea turtles to:
Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission - 561-575-5455
National Save the Sea Turtle
Foundation
Fort Lauderdale, 954-351-9333
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More Turtle Types
KEMP'S RIDLEY TURTLE Lepidochelys kempi)
The Kemp’s ridley is the rarest sea turtle in the world and is the most
endangered. It has only one major nesting beach, an area called Rancho
Nuevo on the Gulf coast of Mexico. The location of this nesting beach
was itself a mystery to scientists until the discovery of a film made in
1947 by a Mexican engineer showing 40,000 Kemp’s ridleys crawling ashore
in broad daylight to lay eggs. Sadly, an “arribada” (from the Spanish
word for arrival) of such awe-inspiring splendor can now be seen only on
film. Fewer than 1,000 nesting females remain in the world.Kemp’s
ridleys are small, weighing only 85 to 100 pounds and measuring 2 to 2.5
feet in carapace length, but they are tough and tenacious. Their
principal diet is crabs and other crustaceans.
During the 1980s, many eggs were removed from the beach at Rancho Nuevo
and incubated in containers. The hatchlings that emerged from these eggs
were then raised for almost a year in a National Marine Fisheries
Service facility in Galveston, Texas. Upon release, it was hoped that
these “headstarted” turtles had a better chance of survival than they
would have had as hatchlings. Unfortunately, there were many problems
with this program. When it was discovered that the sex of turtle
hatchlings was influenced by temperature, project workers realized that
the artificial egg incubators were producing only male turtles. They
also discovered that many of the “headstarted” turtles did not behave
like their wild counterparts after release. Many scientists worried that
these “headstarted” turtles would never become reproducing adults.
Although two “headstarted” turtles have finally been known to nest,
headstarting is generally considered to be an inappropriate conservation
technique for marine turtles.
HAWKSBILL TURTLE (Eretmochelys imbricata)
The hawksbill turtle is a small, agile turtle whose beautiful tortoise-colored
shell is its greatest liability. The shell is still used in some
European and Asian countries to make jewelry, hair decorations and other
ornaments, even though international trade in hawksbill products has
been banned in much of the world.
Hawksbill turtles weigh from 100 to 200 pounds as adults and are approximately
30 inches in shell length. Its carapace is shaded with black and brown
markings on a background of amber. The shields of this kaleidoscopic
armor overlap, and the rear of the carapace is serrated. Its body is
oval-shaped, its head is narrow, and its raptor-like jaws give the
hawksbill its name. These jaws are perfectly adapted for collecting its
preferred food, sponges. Although sponges are composed of tiny glasslike
needles, this potentially dangerous diet apparently causes the turtle no
harm.
Hawksbill turtles are the most tropical of the sea turtles and are usually
found in lagoons, reefs, bays, and estuaries of the Atlantic, Pacific,
and Indian oceans. They are frequently spotted by divers off the Florida
Keys, and a few nests are documented annually from the Keys to Canaveral
National Seashore.
Nesting Sea Turtles
Sea turtles usually nest at night. If you should come across an adult
turtle on the beach, please DO NOT approach her. Turtles can be easily
deterred from nesting by movement, noise or light, such as the light
from a flashlight. Stay behind the turtle and out of sight. It is best
to avoid walking on the beach at night during sea turtle nesting season
(March 1 - October 31). See
photos of nesting turtles from the Florida Marine Research Institute.
Hatchling Sea Turtles
Sea turtle hatchlings typically emerge from their nest at night. It is
important not to disturb hatchlings, eggs or nests. Hatchlings need to
be allowed to crawl to the sea unaided. It is a federal offense to
possess or handle sea turtle eggs or hatchlings.
Beachfront Lighting
Beachfront lighting poses a threat to nesting females as well as to
hatchlings. On beaches where artificial lightly is visible, nesting
females are deterred from nesting and the hatchlings' important journey
to the sea is disrupted. A single light left on
near a beach can be responsible for misdirecting and killing hundreds of
hatchlings each season. Please report any lights visible on
the beach to Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources
Management or your local code enforcement officer. Do not use
flashlights or build fires on the beach from March through October.
Monitoring Activities
Beaches are monitored for sea turtle activity by a variety of local groups
permitted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
(FWC). Data collected are used for management, research and education.
Surveyors identify crawls on the beach and determine whether or not the
turtle nested. Nests may be marked to protect them from beach activity
or to evaluate the success of a nest. Please cooperate with the
monitoring groups by leaving stakes and nest markers in place and not
obscuring tracks or nests.
While at the Beach
- Avoid going to the beach to observe turtles at night without a
permitted guide
- Do not use flashlights on the beach at night in the summer
- Place umbrellas only in the upper 12 inches of sand to avoid
disturbing buried clutches of eggs
- Build sand castles and dig holes below the seaweed line
- Please pick up litter on the beach and properly dispose of your
trash
Some text on this page provided by the Florida Marine Research Institute. |
