Green sea turtles are the largest hardshell sea turtles; growing up to five feet long and weighing an average of 150-400 ponds. However, bigger specimens have been found weighing over 700 pounds!

They get their name from the green fat beneath their shell. The actual shell of the green sea turtle is olive to black in color, the underside is yellow, and it’s about four feet long. The coloration will change overtime with hatchlings having a mostly black shell, juveniles developing a dark brown to olive coloring, and adults having either entirely brown or marbled coloration.

Green sea turtles are closely related to the hawksbill turtle; however, green sea turtles have a small snout with an unhooked beak, hawksbills have two claws on their front feet and green sea turtles have one, and they can’t pull their head into their shell.

These turtles are made for sea-life as they have streamlined shells, paddle-like flippers, can swim up to 35 mph, and they can hold their breath for hours at a time. Since they are cold-blooded, water temperature can affect their breath-holding abilities; the colder the water, the longer they can hold it.

The green sea turtle can be found worldwide in all tropical and subtropical oceans. There are two subpopulations of green sea turtles, the Atlantic and the Eastern Pacific green turtle. Atlantic green turtles are only located throughout the Atlantic Ocean, while the Eastern Pacific green turtles are found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Mediterranean and Black Seas.

Green sea turtles move through habitats as they get older; eggs hatch on beaches, adults frequent lagoons and bays, and older green sea turtles like shallow, coastal waters.

The dietary structure of the green sea turtle develops as they age. Younger turtles are carnivorous eating critters such as mollusks, jellyfish, worms, and more. They won’t grow very quickly as they consume few nutrients. Adults can be found in shallow lagoons due to the various seagrasses. They bite only the tips of the seagrass promoting healthy vegetation.

Mating seasons vary by location for green sea turtles. They migrate long distances to the same beaches on which they were born to mate, with some migrating over 1,500 miles! Since they were born successfully at a specific location, the turtles assume their nesting will also be successful. A good nesting spot is a sandy beach with easy ocean access, low probability of predators, and good temperature.

After mating, females will move above a beach’s high tide line and dig a hole up to two feet deep using her hind-flippers where she will lay between 85-200 eggs. After fully covering up the nest, she will redo this process three to five more times each mating season. After about two months, all hatchlings will emerge at once during the night and instinctively head towards the ocean. This trek is the most dangerous part of a turtle’s life as a significant amount are eaten by critters such as gulls and crabs.