Chelonia mydas

Cheloniidae
Green Turtle
  • Chelonia mydas, Great Barrier Reef, QLD, Australia, Photo: Antonia Cooper
    Chelonia mydas, Great Barrier Reef, QLD, Australia, Photo: Antonia Cooper
  • Chelonia mydas, Great barrier reef, QLD, Australia, Photo: Antonia Cooper
    Chelonia mydas, Great barrier reef, QLD, Australia, Photo: Antonia Cooper
  • Chelonia mydas, Great Barrier Reef, QLD, Australia, Photo: Antonia Cooper
    Chelonia mydas, Great Barrier Reef, QLD, Australia, Photo: Antonia Cooper
  • Chelonia mydas, Montague Is, NSW, Australia, Photo: Andrew Green
    Chelonia mydas, Montague Is, NSW, Australia, Photo: Andrew Green
  • Chelonia mydas, Lord Howe Is, NSW, Australia, Photo: Andrew Green
    Chelonia mydas, Lord Howe Is, NSW, Australia, Photo: Andrew Green
Distribution
Mediterranean, Temperate Africa, Temperate Australasia, Temperate northern Atlantic, Temperate northern Pacific, Temperate South America, Tropical Atlantic/Caribbean, Tropical Eastern Pacific, Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Green-brown upper shell with radiating streaks on plates, cream belly, four large plates along side of the back, four scales with black round marks behind eye, upper eyelid with enlarged scales.  Females return to their beach of birth to lay up to 120 eggs in a nest dug in the sand, sometimes twice in a year. An important dietary item for Aboriginal people.
Information
  • Max Size: 1500 cm
  • Sea Temperature Range: 15.8-31.2°C
  • Depth: 0-25m
  • Habitat: Coral Reef, Mangrove, Open ocean, Rocky Reef, Seagrass, Soft sediment
Rarity
  • Threats: By-catch, Exploitation, Habitat degradation
  • IUCN Threat Status: Endangered
  • Occurrence: Infrequent (6% of sites)
    Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
  • Abundance: Solitary (1 per transect)
    Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Joe Shields
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