Card #067 · Reptiles
Leatherback sea turtle
Dermochelys coriacea
Rare VU · Vulnerable
Field notes
- Classification
- Order Testudines · Family Dermochelyidae
- Range
- All tropical & temperate oceans worldwide
- Size
- Up to 2.7 m (9 ft)
- Weight
- Up to 500 kg (1,100 lb)
- Lifespan
- ~50+ yrs (est.)
- Diet
- Jellyfish
Most Notable
The deepest-diving reptile alive, plunging past 1,000 m (over 4,000 ft) after jellyfish, far below most whales. Alone among sea turtles it has no hard shell, only a ridged, leathery back.
Though it is a reptile, the leatherback runs warm: a thick layer of oil-rich fat and a heat-trapping tangle of blood vessels keep its core far warmer than the sea, letting it feed in frigid waters off Alaska and Norway where no other sea turtle could survive.
It eats almost nothing but jellyfish, swallowing them past rows of backward-pointing spines that line its throat so the slippery prey cannot escape.
It roams farther than any other reptile, crossing whole oceans between feeding and nesting grounds; one tracked turtle swam about 20,000 km over nearly two years.
Listed as Vulnerable worldwide, some populations are in far worse shape: East Pacific leatherbacks are Critically Endangered, having collapsed by more than 90 percent.
Range: Warm and cold oceans worldwide, the widest range of any reptile.