September 17, 2018

What Is The Biggest Sea Turtle?

The biggest known sea turtle is the Leatherback sea turtle. These giant turtles are amazing to see.

They can weigh up to 2000 pounds and grow as long as five to six feet.

It is easy to tell a Leatherback from other sea turtles to due to the enormous size and the texture of their skin.

They have a hard but rubbery texture to their scales instead of the typical turtle carapace. 

Leatherbacks can be found in Canada and the north part of the Pacific Ocean, but they are more likely to be in the more tropical regions. They often nest in Puerto Rico, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The will eat what they have to, so the females will sometimes eat small shore mammals during breeding season or fish and crustaceans in the sea. While they are willing to eat these things, though, the preferred food for the Leatherbacks is absolutely jellyfish. They prefer a diet made up of primarily jellyfish. Unfortunately, this means that they are sometimes attracted to plastic bags filled with water and will attempt to eat these because of the jellyfish-like consistency. This puts the world’s biggest sea turtle in danger, so it is critical that we keep their waters clean. 

Leatherbacks are endangered due to issues like pollution, being injured or killed after getting caught in fishing gear and other threats. They don’t have many natural predators since they are so large, making humans the main threat to these big turtles.

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