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Sea
Turtles |
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| Green
Sea Turtle
(Tortuga Blanca)
Chelonia
mydas
Family: Cheloniidae
Status: Endangered
in Florida waters and the Pacific Coast of Mexico including
the Gulf of California. Threatened
elsewhere.
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Adult
Green nesting on South Padre Island, Texas.
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Green
Hatchling in South Padre Island, Texas.
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Photos
By: Adrienne McCracken |
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Description |
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Adult
green sea turtles grow to a length of four feet (1.3 meters) and range
from 250 to 450 pounds (113-204 kilograms). Conant (1991) lists a record
size of over 650 pounds (295 + kilograms). The adult's shell ranges from
a rusty reddish brown to light brown with darker mottling. The most distinctive
identifying character of the green turtle are the two large oblong preocular
scales between their eyes. The green turtle is named for the color of
its fat, not for its overall coloration.
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Habitat
and Distribution |
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Green
sea turtles are generally found in shallow waters along reefs, in bays
and estuaries. They are found throughout the world, predominantly in tropical
and subtropical waters. On occasion isolated nesting may occur on the
Texas coast. Freezing weather in 1983, 1984 and 1989 stunned a large number
of juvenile green turtles in the Laguna Madre of South Texas. A nesting
population of yet undetermined size exists between La Pesca and Tampico,
in the State of Tamaulipas, Mexico.
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General
Information |
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Green
sea turtles are known to migrate long distances (up to 1400 miles) between
feeding grounds and nesting beaches. This turtle is mostly herbivorous,
feeding on a variety of sea grasses and marine algae including: Thalassia,
Zostera, Cymodocea and Halophila. Depending on the size of the female,
they lay from 75 to 150 eggs per clutch. Some females have been recorded
laying as many as seven clutches in a season. The eggs incubate for 48
to 70 days. Like most sea turtle species, green sea turtles nest at night.
Individual turtles only nest every 2, 3 or 4 years. In the Gulf of Mexico
at Rancho Nuevo, green sea turtles begin nesting in June and continue
through October. |
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Current
Threats and Historic Reasons for Decline |
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Commercial
canneries in Florida and Texas in the early 1900s took a heavy toll. Green
turtle soup is a delicacy in most areas where the turtle is found. Ship
manifests from the 1800s and before reveal a thriving trade in green turtles
in the area of the mouth of the Rio Grande River (Rio Bravo) of Texas/Mexico. |
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