Leatherback Sea Turtle

Design

Julien Renoult, CC0 1.0, via iNaturalist

The leatherback sea turtle has physiological adaptations that the other six species of sea turtles do not possess. These include a dark body color, a thick layer of fat, a high volume-to-surface ratio, and “countercurrent” heat exchangers in its flippers, which allow the warm blood from the heart to warm the cooler blood returning from the veins. All of these features help the leatherback maintain a core body temperature considerably higher than the surrounding water, allowing this species to range farther north and south into colder ocean waters than the other species.

Features

• The leatherback turtle differs from other sea turtles in that its carapace (top shell) is leathery, instead of hard and immovable.
• It is either dark brown or black in color.
• It has seven logitudinal ridges on its carapace.

Fun Facts

• This is the largest of all living turtles. The largest on record was a male stranded on the west coast of Wales in 1988. He weighed in at a whopping 2,019 lbs (916 kg).
• The leatherback sea turtle is the only marine turtle whose backbone is not attached to the inside of its shell.
• This species is on the federal Endangered Species List. Loss of nesting beaches and poaching of eggs by humans are the prime causes of its decline.