Green Sea Turtle

Distribution: Tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide

Size: 83‒114 cm

Weight: 110‒190 kg

Life Span: Over 80 years

Diet: Herbivorous

Social life: Solitary

IUCN red list status: Endangered



The green turtle is a large, weighty sea turtle with a wide, smooth carapace, or shell. It inhabits tropical and subtropical coastal waters around the world. They mainly stay near the coastline and around islands and live in bays and protected shores. It is named not for the color of its shell, which is normally brown or olive depending on its habitat, but for the greenish color of its skin. It has flippers that resemble paddles, which make them powerful and graceful swimmers. Unlike most sea turtles, adult green turtles are herbivorous, feeding on sea grasses and algae. Their jaws are finely serrated which aids them in tearing vegetation. Juvenile green turtles, however, will also eat invertebrates like crabs, jellyfish, and sponges.

Green turtles undertake lengthy migrations from feeding sites to nesting grounds, normally on sandy beaches.

Green sea turtles nest at intervals of about every 2 years and lay an average of 150 eggs in each nest. Green turtles are listed as an endangered species. Their numbers are reduced because of the hunt for their eggs, boat propeller accidents, fishnet-caused drowning, and the destruction of their nesting grounds.