- Group
- Turtle
- Habitat
- Seagrass
- Max size
- 1.5 m
- Family
- Cheloniidae
The green sea turtle, also known as the green turtle, black sea turtle, and Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean. The common name refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, due to its diet strictly being seagrass, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black.
Adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Behaviour
The only sea turtle that grazes as an adult, on seagrass and algae. Nests on Vanuatu beaches, and females return to the beach they hatched on.
Easily confused with
Side by side, with what tells them apart.
The two turtles most often met on the reef. Hawksbill Turtle has a narrow, tapering head that ends in a sharp, hooked beak, and the plates at the back of its shell overlap, leaving a saw-toothed rear edge. Green Turtle has a short, rounded snout with no hook and a smooth-edged shell. Close up, count the scales between the eyes: one pair on the Green Turtle, two pairs on the Hawksbill.
See the Hawksbill Turtle →
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 Loggerhead Turtle →