Green Sea Turtle

 

[Classification]

Kingdom : Animalia

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Reptilia

Order : Testudines

Suborder : Cryptodira

Clade : Americhelydia

Family : Cheloniidae

Genus : Chelonia

Species : C. mydas

Chelonia mydas, or the Green sea Turtle is also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle, or Pacific green turtle. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia.

 

[Appearance]

A typical green sea turtle has a dorsoventrally flattened body, a beaked head at the end of a short neck, and paddle-like arms well-adapted for swimming. They are easily distinguished from other sea turtles because they have a single pair of prefrontal scales (scales in front of its eyes), rather than two pairs as found on other sea turtles. The fat under its carapace (shell) is greenish, hence the name "Green Sea Turtle". And adult green sea turtle can grow up to 1.5 metres long. The average weight of mature green sea turtles are 68–190 kg and the average carapace length is 78–112 cm. Even so, some specimens can weigh 315 kg or even more. The largest known green sea turtle is 395 kg in weight and 153 cm in carapace length.

A Green Sea Turtle

Unlike their close family the Hawksbill turtle, the green sea turtle's snout is very short and their beak is unhooked. Their neck cant be pulled into their carapace. As adult turtles, males are easily distinguishable from the females by having a larger tail and longer claws on the front flippers.

 

[Food]

The unique fact about a green sea turtle's food is that it changes from each phase of its life span. The young green sea turtle are carnivores. They eat fish eggs, mollusks, jellyfish, small invertebrates, worms, and crustaceans. They are still carvinores until they are juvenilles, but when they mature, they become onnivores. When they grow older, they are herbivores. They feed on algaes and seagreass. They eat a large ammount of them and their fat turns more greenish due to the vegetations they eat.

 

[Habitat]

Sea grass meadows

Green sea turtles range from tropical to subtropical areas worldwide. The most abundant ones can be found in the atlantic and pacific oceans. Since green sea turtles are a migrating species, their global distribution spans around the world. The green sea turtle is estimated to inhabit coastal areas of more than 140 countries, with nesting sites in over 80 countries worldwide throughout the year. 

They lay eggs and hatched on the beach, but the mature green sea turtle spend most of their time in shallow coastal waters with lush seagrass beds, seagrass meadows, and lagoons.

 

[Life Cycle]

Beaches in Southeast Asia, India, islands in the western Pacific, and Central America are where Green sea turtles breed. Most of them went back to the beach where they hatch from, no matter where they live as an adult. Mating seasons vary for each population of green sea turtles. 

Laying eggs

While females went to the sea to lay eggs, the males went to the sea there they hatch from to mate. After mating in the water, the female moves above the beach's high tide line, where it will dig a hole 11-22 in depth with her flippers and lay her eggs. After that, they covered again the hole with sand. 

The eggs are round and white, and about 45 mm in diameter. They will hatch altogether later at night, after around 50-70 days. Then, the hatchlings will insticntively attempt to go to the water, but there are many predators waiting to hunt them, such as gulls and crabs. 

A Hatchling

 Those that reach the ocean will swim to the habitat they decide to live on. Juvenilles spend three to five years in the open ocean before they settle as still-immature juveniles into their permanent shallow-water lifestyle. It takes them 20 to 50 years to reach sexual maturity. Scientists believe that they are very long lived and may live to 100 years in age.

 

[Behaviour]

Green sea turtles spend most of their time underwater, but they still need air to breath. They can hold their breath until around 5 hours by keeping it in their lungs. The lungs permit a rapid exchange of oxygen and prevent gases from being trapped during deep dives. Green sea turtles can rest or sleep underwater. During the night while sleeping, to protect themselves from potential predators, the adults wedge themselves under rocks below the surface and under ledges in reefs and coastal rocks. Many green sea turtles have been observed in returning to the same sleeping location night after night.

Breathing

 

[Social Structure]

Sea turtles are rather loners, but it's not rare to see several sea turtles living in the same enviorment. Even so, while they do acknowledge that others are around they don’t seem to make it a point to communicate with them in any way, but they dont show any aggression or dislike either, as long as there are enough food for all of them to live. There are a few times though when they are seen interacting with each other. When it's time for them to migrate, they always move in large numbers, but they dont show many interactions between each other even in the pack. They also migrate to different places depending on where they hatch from. The older sea turtle usually leads the pack.

Sea Turtles interacting

The males do engage in various types of courting for the female’s attention when it is time to mate. But there are no social structure on who gets the female or which male does the female chose at all. The young sea turtles have no social structures. Even the female sea turtles have no social structure while they lay eggs in the same coast as well. Simply put, there really isn’t much of a social structure for the sea turtle. Yet this format is one that continues to work for them in a positive way. They don’t seem to be affected negatively and there is no chaos. For the most part these creatures live in harmony both alone and when it is time for them to come together as a unit.

Sea turtles are often stuck in nets

[Status]

The IUCN and CITES has listed the Green Sea Turtle as an endangered animal and it is illegal to collect, harm, or kill them. However, turtles are still in danger due to human activity. The greatest threat for the green sea turtle is from the commercial harvest for eggs and food. Other green turtle parts are also used for leather and small turtles are sometimes stuffed.

[Facts!] 

1. Sea turtles are amazing swimmers, they can move from 0.9 to about 5.8 miles per hour
2. They are excellent divers too, because may reach depths of more than 3,900 ft. in order to reach food
3. It is a common myth that sea turtles cry. But it's not because they're sad. They are actually excreting the salt water from their bodies through their eyes
4. It is believed one method that males use to see who should get to mate with the female is who can raise their neck the highest
5. The largest sea turtle every found was close to 2,020 pounds and 9.8 feet long
6. They all have eyelids that offer them protection from the sunlight for their eyes. They are able to see very well in the water but not on land. They are also color blind

Thank You For Reading!!

 [Questions]

Now, let's see how much you remember about the Green Sea Turtle. It's better if you try to not peek to the text above. Good Luck~

1.  What is the Green Sea Turtle's Phylum?
A. Chordata
B. Cryptodira
C. Cheloniidae
D. Reptilia
E. C. Mydas

2. Why are they called "Green Sea Turtle"?
A. They live in green waters
B. Their shells are green
C. They are fully green colored
D. Their fat is green
E. They eat green seagrass

3. How many years does it takes for a Green Sea Turtle to reach sexual maternity?
A. 15-20 years
B. 20-50 years
C. 20-60 years
D. 30-45 years
E. 80-100 years

4. Which Green Sea Turtle usually leads the pack when they migrate?
A. The oldest one
B. The strongest one
C. The one that migrates the furthest
D. The only female in the pack
E. The largest one

5. Which one is the false statement?
A. The Green Sea Turtle does not have a social structure
B. During the night while sleeping, the adults wedge themselves under rocks
C. The female moves above the beach's high tide line to lay eggs
D. The Green Sea Turtle's global distribution spans around the world
E. They are distinguished from other sea turtles by their two pairs of prefrontal scales

Thats it for now, once again, thank you for reading!

Source :

wikipedia
conserveturtles.org
seaturtle-world, green sea turtle
seaturtle-world