Green sea turtle

Chelonia mydas

Scientific name

Chelonia mydas

Group

Sea turtles

Rarity

Common

Where to see it

Indo-Pacific & Red Sea, Caribbean & Tropical Atlantic

Conservation status (IUCN)

Endangered

Did you know?

In green sea turtles, the sex of hatchlings depends on the temperature of the sand where the eggs incubate — warmer sand produces more females. The species gets its name from the greenish color of its fat, a result of its algae- and seagrass-based diet.

What defines this group — Sea turtles

Reptiles that went back to the sea: they breathe air and return to lay eggs on the beach where they hatched.

• Lungs, not gills: they have to surface to breathe.
• The front limbs have become paddles, and the shell can no longer tuck them away.
• Females find their way back to their birth beach, sometimes across thousands of kilometres.

Other species in this group

• Loggerhead turtle
• Hawksbill turtle
• Olive ridley turtle
• Leatherback turtle
• Flatback turtle
• Kemp's ridley turtle