Loggerhead Turtle

Caretta caretta

By Safiyo

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus: Caretta
Species: caretta

Physical Description

Loggerhead turtles have large heads and powerful jaws. The carapace is the top shell it is hard and reddish brown. The bottom shell is a pale yellowish color. They weigh about 250-400 pounds and are four feet long.

Diet and Feeding Habits

Loggerheads eat hard shelled pray, such as whelks and conch. They are carnivores. They also eat horseshoe, crabs, mussels and clams.

Reproduction

They read sexual maturity around 35 years. Mating occurs in late march and early June and females lay eggs between late April and early September. Females make three to five nests. One hundred eggs are laid in each nest. Eggs hatch in sixty days.

Habitat

Loggerheads occupy three different ecosystems during their lives-- the terrestrial zone, the oceanic zone, and the neritic zone(shallow ocean). Loggerhead hatchlings hatch on ocean beaches.

Role in the Ecosystem

The loggerhead has an important place in the ecosystem. It is a carnivore and eats other ocean creatures such as hard shelled, crabs, horse shoe, and conch shells. Their reproduction contributes to the beach ecosystem. Eggs laid by threatened loggerheads along beaches hold nutrients that may strengthen vegetation along the shore and could be preserving the dune ecosystem. Sea turtles swim to nesting areas and carry nutrients from feeding groups to sandy beaches. Nests may be disturbed by predators such as raccoons, crab or birds that eat the eggs, and scatter them across that dune.

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