Sea turtles are classified thus: Kingdom> Animalia; Phylum> Chordata; Class> Reptilia; Subclass> Anapsida; Order> Testudines; Family> Cheloniidae or Dermochelyidae.
There are seven recognised species of sea turtles, six of which are in the Family Cheloniidae, they are – the hawksbill, green, flatback, loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley and olive ridley turtles -, with only one – the leatherback in the Family Dermochelyidae.
Fast Facts about Sea Turtles
1. Sea turtles are reptiles that live in a marine or brackish environment.
2. Sea turtles are well-adapted for swimming in the water, but move poorly on land.
3. The flippers of sea turtles are long and paddle-like, making them excellent for swimming but poor for walking on land.
4. Another characteristic that helps sea turtles swim easily is their streamlined carapace, or shell. In most species, this shell is covered in large, hard scales called scutes. The number and arrangement of these scutes can be used to distinguish different sea turtle species.
5. The bottom part of a sea turtle’s shell is called a plastron.
6. While sea turtles have fairly mobile necks, they cannot withdraw their heads into their shells.
7. Sea turtles start their lives inside eggs buried in the sand. After a two-month incubation period, the young turtles hatch and run to the sea, facing attack by a variety of predators – birds, crabs, fish – along the way. They drift at sea until they are about a foot long and then, depending on the species, may move closer to shore to feed.
8. Sea turtles mature at around age 30. The males then spend their whole lives at sea, while females mate with the males at sea and then go to the beach to dig a hole and lay their eggs. Female sea turtles may lay eggs several times during a single season.
9. All seven species of sea turtles are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Threats to sea turtles today include the harvesting of their eggs for human consumption, entanglement and entrapment in fishing gear, ingestion of litter and coastal development.
10. In some classification schemes, the green turtle is divided into two species – the green turtle, and a darker version called the black sea turtle or Pacific green turtle.
