- Group
- Turtle
- Habitat
- Sand & rubble
- Max size
- 1.1 m
- Family
- Cheloniidae
The loggerhead sea turtle, loggerhead turtle or loggerhead, is a species of sea turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around 90 cm (35 in) in carapace length when fully grown. The adult loggerhead sea turtle weighs approximately 135 kg (298 lb), with the largest specimens weighing about 200 kg (440 lb). The skin ranges from yellow to brown in color, and the shell is typically reddish brown. No external differences in sex are seen until the turtle becomes an adult, the most obvious difference being the adult males have thicker tails and shorter plastrons than the females.
Adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Behaviour
A heavy head and crushing jaws for shellfish and crabs taken off the bottom. Far less often seen here than the green or hawksbill.
Easily confused with
Side by side, with what tells them apart.
Loggerhead Turtle has a massive head, far broader than a Green Turtle's, with heavy jaws for crushing shellfish, and a yellow-orange to reddish-brown shell with five pairs of plates down its sides. Green Turtle has a small, rounded head, four pairs of side plates, and a shell that is olive to brown, often marbled.
See the Green Turtle →
Both can look orange-brown from above. Loggerhead Turtle has a huge, blunt head, five pairs of side plates and a smooth-edged, reddish-brown shell. Hawksbill Turtle has a narrow head ending in a pointed, hooked beak, four pairs of side plates, and an amber shell streaked with dark rays, its rear edge saw-toothed.
See the Hawksbill Turtle →