How did the species become listed? They are rarely sighted from the nesting areas, however some sightings have been found in feeding areas. Common Name: Leatherback Sea Turtle. Hatchlings have white blotches on carapace. Leatherback sea turtle on the beach /Tinglar. Preferred Names. While all other sea turtles have hard, bony shells, the inky-blue carapace of the leatherback is somewhat flexible and almost rubbery to the touch. Because leatherbacks are highly pelagic animals and make long migrations, they come into contact with people of many nations. Common Name: Leatherback Sea Turtle. Description: Head has a deeply notched upper jaw with 2 cusps. More Sea Turtle Facts! These gigantic reptiles can reach lengths of over 6 feet and weights of over 2,000 pounds. Atlantic population . Lays an average of 80 fertilized eggs, the size of billiard balls, and 30 smaller, unfertilized eggs, in each nest. Leatherbacks are the largest of all sea turtles. During their long migrations, leatherbacks regularly dive to depths greater than 1,000 m (3,281 ft) in search of gelatinous zooplankton to eat. Life History The leatherback is one of the largest living reptiles, surpassed in size only by some species of crocodiles. Leatherba… Endangered Species Act, which was established in 1973. International – Listed as Vulnerable in 2013 (facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The leatherback is the only remaining member of its taxonomic family (Dermochelyidae). The leatherback is the largest turtle in the world. 20,000 to 30,000 nesting females. Scientific Name: Dermochelys coriacea. The carapace has seven longitudinal ridges and tapers to a blunt point. Location, Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, US Virgin Islands Family Cheloniidae includes all sea turtles with scutes (horny plates) covering their shells. The carapace is dark grey or black with white or pale spots, while the plastron is whitish to black and marked by 5 ridges. U.S. Virgin Islands - A strip of land 0.2 miles wide (from mean high tide inland) at Sandy Point Beach on the western end of the island of St. Croix beginning at the southwest cape to the south and running 1.2 miles northwest and then northeast along the western and northern shoreline, and from the southwest cape 0.7 miles east along the southern shoreline. COSEWIC status reports are working documents used in assigning the status of wildlife species suspected of being at risk. After nesting, female leatherbacks migrate from tropical waters to more temperate latitudes, which support high densities of jellyfish prey in the summer. After 60-65 days, leatherback hatchlings with white striping along the ridges of their backs and on the margins of the flippers emerge from the nest. Leatherback Sea Turtle Facts Scientific Name. Together these threats are serious ongoing sources of mortality that adversely affect the species' recovery. Mature males and females can be as long as six and a half feet (2 m) and weigh almost 2000 lbs. Names. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), which means that international trade of this species is prohibited. To examine the population status of the seven species of sea turtle globally, we obtained 299 time series of annual nesting abundance with a total of 4417 annual estimates. Reference taxon from Catalogue of Life in Species 2000 & … Common Name: Leatherback – named for its unique shell which is composed of a layer of thin, tough, rubbery skin, strengthened by thousands of tiny bone plates that makes it look “leathery.”. Their shell consists of a single piece with five ridges, which is distinctive from other turtles who have plated shells. The time series ranged in length from 6 to 47 years (mean, 16.2 years). Pacific population . Leatherback Sea Turtle Dermochelys. Females nest several times during a nesting season, typically at 8-12 day intervals. Fun Fact: Only sea turtle without a hard shell. All flippers are without claws. Scientific name: Lepidochelys olivacea. Mature males and females can be as long as six and a half feet (2 m) and weigh almost 2000 lbs. The white spherical eggs are approximately 2 inches in diameter. Harvest of eggs and adults occurs on nesting beaches while juveniles and adults are harvested on feeding grounds. Unlike other sea turtles, the leatherback does not have a hard, bony shell. Weight: 660 to 1,100 pounds (300 – 500 kg). Leatherbacks are commonly known as pelagic animals, but also forage in coastal waters. Leatherback Sea Turtles are an ancient lineage over 70 million years old that outlived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. The leatherback sea turtle is the largest of all living sea turtles.It is the fourth largest modern reptile behind three crocodilians.. Click to see more animals in the Active Wild Online Zoo Leatherback Sea Turtle Facts At A Glance. Typically incubation takes from 55 to 75 days, and emergence of the hatchlings occurs at night. 2010) for all marine turtle species, including Leatherbacks, to provide a biologically …. Photo by Al Woodson, USFWS volunteer Adult leatherbacks are capable of tolerating a wide range of water temperatures, and have been sighted along the entire continental coast of the United States as far north as the Gulf of Maine and south to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and into the Gulf of Mexico. Leatherback. Scientific Name. The Pacific Ocean leatherback population is generally smaller in size than that in the Atlantic Ocean. The leatherback is the only sea turtle that lacks a hard, bony shell. Underwater giant on the brink. 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