Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta)

Adults are primarily carnivorous, using their powerful jaws to crack open crustaceans such as crabs and even seemingly impenetrable molluscs such as the queen conch (Strombus gigas) and giant clam (Tridacna spp.) (7). Loggerheads may reach sexual maturity at around 35 years old, and females appear to nest an average of three to five times in one breeding season, returning to breed every couple of years (8). Nesting occurs at night throughout the summer; females drag themselves out onto beaches beyond the high-tide mark and dig nests (around 40 centimetres deep) into which around 100 eggs are laid (2). Hatchlings and small juveniles appear to spend some time in pelagic environments, often drifting amongst rafts of sargassum (brown algae) and/or flotsam in the open ocean before migrating to benthic habitats in shallower, coastal waters (6).

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