Details
Eretmochelys imbricata
The hawksbill sea turtle uses coral reefs and open ocean across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. Diurnal and solitary, it picks food from reefs with a beak-like mouth.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It uses coral reefs, rocky reefs, open ocean, tropical islands, and nesting beaches. Young drift at sea, while older turtles feed around reefs.
Shell length is about 60-110 cm and weight about 45-90 kg. Overlapping scutes, a sharply hooked beak, and a brown-yellow patterned shell are distinctive.
It forages alone on reefs, pushing its head into narrow spaces for food. At sea it can travel long distances and females return to beaches to nest.
It is omnivorous but is especially known for eating sponges. It also takes cnidarians, algae, and small invertebrates.
Females come ashore at night, dig nests in sand, and lay eggs. Hatchlings crawl to the sea and later shift from open-ocean life toward reefs.
Its status is listed as Critically Endangered. Shell trade, bycatch, and changes to nesting beaches remain major threats.
