Green Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
Conservation Status:
Sea turtle sightings are very rare in Connecticut, as they migrate to the northern parts of the Atlantic Ocean as the water heats up in the spring. They may be spotted in Long Island Sound from May to November.
Photographed by Alyssa Jones
Description
Green sea turtles are five feet long, some weighing up to five hundred pounds. They have a smooth carapace that is olive or brown in color, sometimes with lighter marbled rays on each scute. They have a yellow plastron. Their head and limbs are brown or olive on top and pale on the bottom. These turtles have green colored fat, which is where they get their name from. They have a small, beaked head, and flipper-like limbs.
Habitat
These turtles can be found globally in oceans. They do not venture too far north past the UK, and do not go past South America in the south.
Behavior
Green sea turtles are fully aquatic, only leaving the water to lay eggs. They are carnivorous when they are younger, eating jellyfish and mollusks, and omnivorous as they grow older, also eating algae and seaweed. They migrate long distances, sometimes over 1600 miles. Typically these turtles return to the beach that they were hatched at, somewhere in the south on sandy beaches. They will lay around 80 to 100 eggs in February to April. They are able to live around 70 years old.
Range
Present
Green Sea Turtle
Photographed by Alyssa Jones
Often Confused with
Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Photo needed! Email ajones7428@gmail.com
Green sea turtles are often more olive or brown in color with very smooth, oval shaped shells. Loggerheads have a red or brown coloring with pronounced sections on their shells. Their carapace is slightly heart shaped.