The Observatory of Marine Turtles
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Of the 7 existant species of marine turtles, 5 frequent the waters of the Indian Ocean. |
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The Green Turtle The green turtle is the most common turtle in the south western Indian Ocean. Hatchlings are carnivorous eating invertebrates, fish eggs, floating molluscs, etc but when juvenile they change their diet to become herbivorous feeding on sea grasses and algae. |
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Weight: 120 to 250 kg ( 264 to 550 lbs)
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The Hawksbill Turtle The common name, hawksbill, is derived from its sharply pointed beak which is used to scrape its most common food items off coral reefs. It feeds mainly on sponges but is known to eat coral, zooanthids, sea urchins and crustaceans. There are several French names : "tortue imbriquée" (overlapping scales), and "tortue caret" or "tortue à écailles" (turtle with scales). The later names are primarily due to the fact that the scales of the hawksbill, most commonly called tortoiseshell, have always been valuable because of their great beauty. |
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Weight: 70 kg (107 lb)
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The Loggerhead Turtle The loggerhead derives its name from the fact that it has a large head with extremely powerful jaws with which it crushes the crustaceans and molluscs on which it feeds. It is circum-tropical in distribution but occurs commonly in more temperate waters. |
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Weight: 120 kg (264 lbs) |
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The Olive Ridley Turtle One of the smallest sea turtles it is olive in colour, very aggressive when caught and feeds on sea urchins, molluscs and especially crustaceans. Like most turtles, olive ridleys normally congregate off selected beaches for individual nesting but in certain areas they exhibit mass nesting behaviour, coming ashore in their tens of thousands over a few days. Such nesting aggregations are known as “Arribadas” (the arrivals) a term originally coined in Mexico. |
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Weight: 40 kg (88 lbs) |
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The Leatherback Turtle The largest extant marine turtle, leatherbacks are unique in having no hard scales. Instead its smooth leathery skin is stretched over the bony carapace and it is from this characteristic that the English name is derived. It is by far the most pelagic species wandering widely over the open oceans of the world in pursuit of its primary food items; coelentarates (especially jellyfish) and squid. They are capable of diving to over 1000 metres (3266 feet) when feeding. Leatherbacks have another feature unique amongst reptiles. They are capable of maintaining a constant internal body temperature irrespective of whether they are in tropical waters or in sub-Arctic or sub-Antarctic waters. |
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© Hendrik Sauvignet |
Weight: 500 to 900 kg (1100 to 1980 lbs
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Kélonia, the observatory of marine turtles |
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