1. ECOS
2. Species Profile for Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)

Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)

Listing Status:  (and others listed below)

General Information

The green sea turtle grows to a maximum size of about 4 feet and a weight of 440 pounds. It has a heart-shaped shell, small head, and single-clawed flippers. Color is variable. Hatchlings generally have a black carapace, white plastron, and white margins on the shell and limbs. The adult carapace is smooth, keelless, and light to dark brown with dark mottling; the plastron is whitish to light yellow. Adult heads are light brown with yellow markings. Identifying characteristics include four pairs of costal scutes, none of which borders the nuchal scute, and only one pair of prefrontal scales between the eyes.

Population detail

The FWS is currently monitoring the following populations of the Green sea turtle 

• Population location: Breeding colony populations in FL and on Pacific coast of Mexico

  Listing status:  Endangered

  • States/US Territories in which this population is known to or is believed to occur:  Florida
  • US Counties in which this population is known to or is believed to occur:  View All
  • USFWS Refuges in which this population is known to occur:  Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, Caloosahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge, Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge, Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, Island Bay National Wildlife Refuge, J.N. 'Ding' Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Key West National Wildlife Refuge, Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, Matlacha Pass National Wildlife Refuge, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, National Key Deer Refuge, Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, Pine Island National Wildlife Refuge, Pinellas National Wildlife Refuge, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge  ... Show All Refuges
    
  • Countries in which the this population is known to occur:  Mexico, United States
  • Additional species information

• Population location: Entire species, except when listed as endangered under 50 CFR 224.101

  Listing status:  Threatened

  • States/US Territories in which this population is known to or is believed to occur:  Alabama , American Samoa , California , Connecticut , Delaware , Georgia , Guam , Hawaii , Louisiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Mississippi , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , North Carolina , Northern Mariana Islands , Oregon , Palau , Puerto Rico , Rhode Island , South Carolina , Texas , US Minor Outlying Islands , Virginia , Virgin Islands , Washington
  • US Counties in which this population is known to or is believed to occur:  View All
  • USFWS Refuges in which this population is known to occur:  Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge, Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, Culebra National Wildlife Refuge, Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Desecheo National Wildlife Refuge, Elizabeth Alexandra Morton National Wildlife Refuge, Guam National Wildlife Refuge, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Howland Island National Wildlife Refuge, Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge, Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Martin National Wildlife Refuge, Mcfaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Moody National Wildlife Refuge, Nomans Land Island National Wildlife Refuge, Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, Rose Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge, Vieques National Wildlife Refuge, Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge, Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge, Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge  ... Show All Refuges
    
  • Countries in which the this population is known to occur:  American Samoa, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mayotte, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, United States, U.S. Pacific Outlying Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen
  • Additional species information

• Population location: Central West Pacific DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Endangered

• Population location: Central South Pacific DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Endangered

• Population location: Mediterranean DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Endangered

• Population location: Central North Pacific DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Threatened

• Population location: North Atlantic DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Threatened

• Population location: East Indian-West Pacific DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Threatened

• Population location: East Pacific DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Threatened

• Population location: North Indian DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Threatened

• Population location: Southwest Pacific DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Threatened

• Population location: South Atlantic DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Threatened

• Population location: Southwest Indian DPS

  Listing status:  Proposed Threatened

» Candidate Information

» Federal Register Documents

» Recovery

• Recovery Plan Information Search
• Information Search FAQs

» Critical Habitat

To learn more about critical habitat please see http://ecos.fws.gov/crithab

» Conservation Plans

» Petitions

» Life History

Habitat Requirements

Green turtles are generally found in fairly shallow waters (except when migrating) inside reefs, bays, and inlets. The turtles are attracted to lagoons and shoals with an abundance of marine grass and algae. Open beaches with a sloping platform and minimal disturbance are required for nesting. Green turtles apparently have a strong nesting site fidelity and often make long distance migrations between feeding grounds and nesting beaches. Hatchlings have been observed to seek refuge and food in Sargassum rafts.

Food Habits

Hatchling green turtles eat a variety of plants and animals, but adults feed almost exclusively on seagrasses and marine algae.

Movement / Home Range

The green turtle has a worldwide distribution in tropical and subtropical waters. Major green turtle nesting colonies in the Atlantic occur on Ascension Island, Aves Island, Costa Rica, and Surinam. Within the U.S., green turtles nest in small numbers in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, and in larger numbers in Florida. The Florida green turtle nesting aggregation is recognized as a regionally significant colony. About 200 to 1,100 females are estimated to nest on beaches in the continental U.S. In the U.S. Pacific, over 90 percent of nesting throughout the Hawaiian archipelago occurs at the French Frigate Shoals, where about 200 to 700 females nest each year. Elsewhere in the U.S. Pacific, nesting takes place at scattered locations in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Guam, and American Samoa. In the western Pacific, the largest green turtle nesting aggregation in the world occurs on Raine Island, Australia, where thousands of females nest nightly in an average nesting season. In the Indian Ocean, major nesting beaches occur in Oman where 6,000 to 20,000 females are reported to nest annually.

Reproductive Strategy

The nesting season varies with the locality. In the Southeastern U.S., it is roughly June through September. Nesting occurs nocturnally at 2, 3, or 4-year intervals. Only occasionally do females produce clutches in successive years. A female may lay as a many as nine clutches within a nesting season (overall average is about 3.3 nests per season) at about 13-day intervals. Clutch size varies from 75 to 200 eggs, with an average clutch size of 136 eggs reported for Florida. Incubation ranges from about 45 to 75 days, depending on incubation temperatures. Hatchlings generally emerge at night. Age at sexual maturity is believed to be 20 to 50 years.

Other

The term "green" applies not to the external coloration, but to the color of the turtle's subdermal fat.

» Other Resources

NatureServe Explorer Species Reports -- NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.

ITIS Reports -- ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.

FWS Digital Media Library -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video.