LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE

Kingdom: Animalia

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines                                          Family: Dermochelyidae

Species: D.coriacea

 The leatherback sea turtle, also called the lute turtle or leathery turtle is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell.

Leatherbacks are the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. They grow up to seven feet (two meters) long and exceed 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms).

Leatherbacks have the widest global distribution of all reptile species, and possibly of any vertebrate. They can be found in the tropic and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. Adult leatherbacks also traverse as far north as Canada and Norway and as far south as New Zealand and South America.

These reptilian relics are the only remaining representatives of a family of turtles that traces its evolutionary roots back more than 100 million years. Once prevalent in every ocean except the Arctic and Antarctic, the leatherback population is rapidly declining in many parts of the world.

Adult Leatherback turtles subsist almost entirely on jellyfish. Due to their obligate feeding nature, leatherback turtles help control jellyfish populations. Leatherbacks also feed on other soft-bodied organisms.

Leatherback sea turtles are declining due to habitat fragmentation, caught accidentally by fishing nets. Due to their large consumption of jellyfish, they are susceptible to swallow plastic bags, which can kill them.