What do loggerhead turtles eat

Diet: Primarily carnivorous and feed mostly on shellfish that live on the bottom of the ocean. They eat horseshoe crabs, clams, mussels, and other invertebrates. Their powerful jaw muscles help them to easily crush the shellfish. Habitat: Prefer to feed in coastal bays and estuaries, as well as in the shallow water along the continental shelves of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Nesting: Nest at intervals of 2 to 4 years.

They lay 3 to 6 nests per season, approximately 12 to 14 days apart. Lays average of between to eggs in each nest. Jellyfish aggregations and leatherback turtle foraging patterns in a temperate coastal environment.

Ecology 87 8 : Interactions of pelagic cnidarians and ctenophores with fish: A review. Hydrobiologia Jellyfish overtake fish in a heavily fished ecosystem. Current Biology 16 13 : RR Roles of sea turtles in marine ecosystems: Reconstructing the past. In Lutz, P. Infaunal mining: A novel foraging method of loggerhead turtles.

Journal of Herpetology 30 1 : Nat Commun 9, Plastic and marine turtles: a review and call for research. ICES J. A quantitative analysis linking sea turtle mortality and plastic debris ingestion. Sci Rep 8, Risk analysis reveals global hotspots for marine debris ingestion by sea turtles.

Global Change Biol. Young green turtles, Chelonia mydas, exposed to plastic in a frontal area of the SW Atlantic. We are updating our website so some pages might not display properly. We apologise for the inconvenience. We use cookies. For more info see our Cookie Policy Accept. The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Skip to content. Adult green sea turtle eating sea grass. A green turtle laying eggs. A green turtle hatchling emerging from the egg. Green turtle eating seagrass, Maldives. Jellyfish swimming in Kenya. Emme, a young loggerhead sea turtle, diving for tuna. Nudibranches, or sea slugs, are a favourite of flatbacks. This is a Goniobranchus gleniei. Mareena, a female green turtle, on a seagrass meadow in the Maldives.

A hawksbill turtle eating sponge in Maldives. A hakwsbill turtle eating a jellyfish in Maldives. How long can sea turtles hold their breath? Marvin, male hawksbill, coming up for a breathe, Maldives.

Enroll Now. An adult green turtle. An adult hawksbill turtle. How do you tell whether a turtle is male or female? Male green turtle tail. Female green turtle tail. References: Marquez-M R References: Qureshi M Sea turtles in Pakistan. Marine Turtles of the Indian Sub- continent. Heydarabad: India Universities Press, pp. Reichart HA Adult male hawksbill, Maldives. References: Witzell WN Synopsis of biological data on the hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata Linnaeus, Adult green turtles mating, Maldives.

References: Hirth HF Chelonian Conservation and Biology 5: People often think that all sea turtles eat only one thing — jellyfish. However, their diets are much more diverse and depend on the species of sea turtle.

This diversity is one way sea turtles play an important role in the health of ocean and coastal ecosystems. By consuming different species, sea turtles provide checks and balances in the food web. As adults, flatback and olive ridley sea turtles are both omnivores, eating a variety of animals and plants. Meanwhile, green sea turtles as adults are herbivores, eating vegetation. Leatherbacks are referred to as gelatinivores because their diet consists of gelatinous prey like jellyfish and sea squirts.

Hawksbill sea turtles often are referred to as spongivores due to their specialized diet that consists almost entirely of sponges. In spite of these protections, loggerhead sea turtle populations continue to decrease. Given the migratory nature of these animals, researchers say that long-term international cooperation is essential to their stability. All rights reserved. Animals Photo Ark. Loggerhead sea turtle.

A juvenile loggerhead sea turtle photographed at Newport Aquarium in Kentucky. Common Name: Loggerhead sea turtles. Scientific Name: Caretta caretta. Type: Reptiles. Diet: Carnivore. Group Name: Flotilla. Size: 36 inches. Weight: pounds. Size relative to a 6-ft man:. Least Concern Extinct. Current Population Trend: Decreasing.

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