Green Sea Turtle

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Green Sea Turtle
The Green Sea Turtle was listed as endangered or
threaten on July 28, 1978. Right now the total
population of the Green Sea Turtle is still
unknown. On the the coast of Florida and Mexico
the Green Sea Turtle are being endangered but in
other places they are just being threaten.
There is an estimations of about 200-1100 nesting
in the United States.
But the nesting have increased in Hutchinson
Island, Florida while in other places the nesting
is still very low.
The population of the Green Sea Turtle was
estimates from the nesting places in Florida.
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Descriptions
Green sea turtle are in the reptile family so
they are cold-blooded breath air, and their skin
are scaly.
Green sea turtle have flesh, thus the name green
sea turtle. The green sea turtles carapace is
an olive color and the plastron (underneath) is a
yellowish color. A mature green sea turtle weighs
from 200-350 and can have a carapace length of
2.5 feet. A full grows adults weight an average
of 400 pounds and can have carapace length 3.5
feet.
Green sea turtles have a lighter shield than land
turtles. They are also known to be able to
traveling long distances in short time. The green
sea turtle reaches sexual maturity around the age
of 25 and can live up to 80 years of age .
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HABITAT
Green sea turtle can be found in water along the
US as far north as Massachusetts and around the
coast of Florida towards Texas. Green sea turtles
are also found south of Florida in the water near
Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Northern
Pacific coast as far north as Alaska as well.
Green sea turtles can be found in both the
western hemispheres and the eastern hemispheres.
They can also be found in most tropical waters.
Green Sea Turtle living in its habitat
Reason the green sea turtle is being endanger is
lost of habitat. As human habitat increases the
green sea turtle habitat decrease which make it
harder for green sea turtle to breed.
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Diet Of The Green Sea Turtle
Juvenile green sea turtle are omnivorous which
means they eat both plants and animals. Their
diet consists of jellyfish, shrimp, plankton, and
algae. Green Sea turtles feed near shore sea
grass and algae pastures.
When a green sea turtle are adults they are
primarily herbivores, meaning their diet consists
of only plants. Sometime an adult green sea
turtle diet may change. They might eat jellyfish
and other easy to catch marine life.
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Reproduction
Like all other reptiles, green sea turtle lay
eggs. Once every two to three years a female
green sea turtle would mate with a male green sea
turtle. Some green sea turtles have been known to
migrate hundreds of miles to return to the beach
they were born to mate and nest.
When the female green sea turtle are ready to lag
their eggs they will slowly drag their body to a
suitable spot and lay their eggs. They would dig
up a hole about 18 inches deep and lay around
100-110 eggs
Afterward they would go back to the sea and hope
that the nest is undisturbed. Studies show that
the degree of the temperature in the eggs during
incubation determine if its going to be a male
green sea turtle or a female. At 82 degree F, the
hatching is female. At 90 degrees F, the
hatchlings are male. Hatching occurs at night and
begins in July after about 60 days of incubation
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Who's to Blaim?
Who is at fault for the endangerment of the green
sea turtle? Human can be the most blame for the
decreases of the green turtle population for the
last couple of years. But human are not the only
one that are preying on the green sea turtle
predators. Such as tiger sharks have developed a
taste for green sea turtle. Although human caused
the greatest loss of green sea turtle they are
not the one to be blame for it. Human has been
trying to help the green sea turtle for decades
now.
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THERE IS STILL HOPE
There is still hope for the green sea turtle.
There are now laws that protects the green sea
turtles from being threaten. Its now illegal to
kill green sea turtle. There is a new device call
TED that help fisherman when fishing for shrimps
and other smaller fishes (picture on the left).
NMFS has been able to show that TEDs are
effective at excluding up to 97 of sea turtles
with minimal loss of shrimp. This has enabled
NMFS to avoid implementing more restrictive
regulations on the shrimp industry.
This is a picture of a green sea turtle.