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Loggerhead Sea Turtle

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Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) images & facts - this stock photo gallery provides colorful and eye-catching images and illustrations of the loggerhead sea turtle in almost every stage of life. The intricate patterns and colors on its shell can be admired and appreciated by all of those who view it. The loggerhead sea turtle is a medium to large size sea turtle with a weight of 155-375 lbs and a shell length between 30-43 inches long. It has a reddish-brown color with some darker colored streaks. Its shoulders are yellow, with the same yellow color extending over its entire underside. The scales on its flippers are orange-brown, surrounded by yellow skin. It has two claws on each front flipper, and two pairs of prefrontal scales, often with one or two intervening scales. It has five pairs of lateral scutes.

Conservation status: Vulnerable
Scientific Classification | Kingdom: Animalia > Phylum: Chordata > Class: Reptilia > Order: Testudines > Suborder: Cryptodia > Superfamily: Chelonioidea > Family: Cheloniidae > Genus: Caretta > Species: C. caretta
Binomial name | Caretta caretta

Loggerhead sea turtles are found in coastal tropical and subtropical waters throughout the world, and they often venture into temperate waters to search for food. Some travel as far north as Newfoundland or as far south as Argentina. Loggerheads prefer the waters of the continental shelves over islands, and they often enter estuaries and other mainland shallows.

Loggerhead sea turtles have a varied diet. Their massive head and powerful jaws allow them to eat mollusks and crustaceans of all types, and they can easily crush the shells of conchs and sea snails. They are known to dismantle wooden traps to get at the lobsters or crabs inside. In addition, they eat softer animals such as sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and soft corals, and they scavenge fish discarded from fishing vessels.

Loggerheads have a wide range of nesting sites and are the only sea turtles that nest on temperate beaches as well as tropical ones. They are known to travel great distances of over 1,000 miles to return to their place of birth for mating and nesting. They mate between March and June, and the females lay between 1-7 clutches of eggs in intervals of two weeks, each clutch containing about 110 eggs. The eggs incubate for two months, after which the hatchlings emerge from their shells and quickly race to the sea.

The IUCN lists the loggerhead sea turtle as Vulnerable. In Australia, they are listed as Highly Endangered, as their numbers there have decreased by 90% in the last 50 years. Worldwide, nests are preyed upon by foxes, raccoons, and other animals, and loggerheads are highly vulnerable to commercial fishing nets and long lines. In this century, there have been increasing reports of loggerhead deaths due to parasites as well as diseases caused by biotoxins.
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