Researchers studying turtle digestive tracts discovered that green sea turtles often consume plastic that resembles jellyfish while leatherbacks prefer material which mimics their prey of jellyfish and other soft-bodied ocean organisms.
A sea turtle’s mouth has evolved to suit their diet; green turtles are generally omnivorous while hawksbills and leatherbacks specialize in eating sponges or jellyfish, respectively.
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Green Sea Turtle
Green sea turtles spend most of their adult lives in shallow coastal habitats like seagrass beds and nearshore algae mats. Once females mature, they return to the beach where they were born to lay 75 to 100 eggs in an underground nest they dug, covering it up with sand for two months incubation time – colder sand yields more male hatchlings.
Green sea turtle hatchlings are herbivorous predators that feed on algae, fish eggs and mollusks as well as nibbling at coral reef spicules that contain glass-like spines containing neurotoxins.
Green Sea Turtles are critically endangered. WWF works to protect beaches where they nest, promote ecotourism at these sites that involves and benefits local communities, and lobby for turtle-friendly fishing practices – our efforts help reduce nest loss, injury from boat propellers or net entanglements, poaching for meat or eggs and poaching by illegal fishers.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Marine predators known for their large heads and powerful jaw muscles, these marine turtles boast one of the widest food ranges among all sea turtles. They consume bottom dwelling invertebrates such as gastropod mollusks, bivalves and crustaceans as well as fish, hatchling turtles and algae as their food sources.
Loggerhead turtles are predominantly carnivorous animals, although they will occasionally consume jellyfish if presented with the opportunity. Their mouth has two sharp cusps on either end that allow them to penetrate stinging cells of jellies and consume them whole.
The loggerhead turtle is Florida’s most common sea turtle and can grow to lengths over one yard long and weigh up to 275 pounds. Their reddish-brown shell, featuring five pleural scutes that radiate toward their heads, tapers outward toward the rear as their flippers dark brown with white edges for food collection scavenging scavenge their habitat for sustenance scavenging is their main form of food source; some nest in south Texas beaches!
Leatherback Sea Turtle
Baby turtles must move quickly once they hatch to make sure that they reach the ocean safely, using bright lights (such as moonlight) to guide them away from ghost crabs, dogs, raccoons and other animals that might try to consume them. When they reach rolling breakers they dive quickly into the water in order to escape marine predators.
Leatherback turtles are deep divers that feed on jellyfish and other soft-bodied open ocean invertebrates. Their jaws lack crushing teeth like other sea turtles but instead feature sharp beak-like cusps to pierce jellyfish or gelatinous prey, and their mouth and throats feature spine-like projections known as papillae that help them retain any food that comes their way.
Leatherback sea turtles possess a semi-flexible rubbery shell known as a carapace with seven distinct ridges running along its length, making it the largest among sea turtles and capable of diving to great depths. Their long migration routes and relative scarcity makes them one of the most endangered reptile species today.
Flatback Sea Turtle
The diet of the flatback sea turtle directly affects both their own health and that of the ocean ecosystem. Like other sea turtle species, these reptiles eat marine plants and animals to maintain balance within it; hawksbills consume up to 95 percent sponges while munching on fish, squid, algae and more, while loggerheads enjoy devouring crabs, shrimp, jellyfish, urchins sea cucumbers among other marine life.
As hatchlings, green sea turtles are omnivorous eaters that feed on algae and seagrass near coral reefs. Adult greens feature finely serrated beaks for scraping algae off rocks. Loggerheads and Kemp’s ridleys tend to consume a greater variety of food sources due to large jaws capable of crushing hard shelled prey; leatherbacks have an ingenious mouth which functions like scissors to cut jellyfish into bite-sized pieces.
Sea turtle shells serve an additional function – protecting and streamlining their bodies while offering shelter to small organisms that hitch a ride – such as barnacles, algae or small crabs that take up residence on them – epibionts.