Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Identification: Carapace up to 120 cm in adults, but more usually 85-100 cm. Weighs 100-150 kg but may even exceed 450 kg. A large horny-shelled turtle, with an oval, often rather long carapace, five costal plates and usually three inframarginal plates on each side. Young have three keels along the carapace, the central one involving a backward projection on each vertebral plate, giving the animal a 'saw-backed' appearance. Adults are red-brown above, sometimes tinged olive, and yellow to cream below. Shells of babies are brown to greyish black above and sometimes streaked.
Range: Atlantic, occasionally north to Norway and beyond, Black Sea and Mediterranean. In NE-Atlantic (French coast northwards) most animals encountered are immature. Breeds in Greece (Zakynthos, Cephalonia, Peloponnese and NW-Crete), Sicily, Linosa and Lampedusa; previously also Corsica, S-Italy and Gozo.
Habitat: In deep waters but often found relatively near shore, entering bays, lagoons, creeks and river estuaries. Commonest sea turtle in Mediterranean.
Habits: May migrate long distances to feed. Females lay 23-198 eggs, 3,5-5,5 cm across, and produce up to 1-6 clutches in a season. They usually reproduce every 2-4 years. The eggs hatch in 7-11 weeks producing babies about 3,5-5,5 cm long. These mature in 12-30 years at a length of 75-100 cm. Omnivorous, feeding especially in rocky places and around reefs, taking hard prey such as crabs, sea urchins, molluscs and other invertebrates. Also eats sea weed, sea grasses etc. In deep water tends to feed especially on salps and jellyfish.
How to find: Can be seen in the seas around the British Isles.
This is one of the most frequently recorded species of sea turtle.