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Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Radu Teodoreanu, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist

Turtles & tortoises

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)

VU VulnerableOn Suriname's list of threatened fauna

Names

EnglishLoggerhead Sea Turtle
DutchOnechte Karetschildpad
SpanishTortuga boba
Chinese红海龟
Sranan Tongosekrepatu (general name for the group)
Scientific nameCaretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)

About this species

The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), loggerhead turtle or loggerhead, is a species of sea turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around 90 cm (35 in) in carapace length when fully grown. The adult loggerhead sea turtle weighs approximately 135 kg (298 lb), with the largest specimens weighing about 200 kg (440 lb). The skin ranges from yellow to brown in color, and the shell is typically reddish brown. No external differences in sex are seen until the turtle becomes an adult, the most obvious difference being the adult males have thicker tails and shorter plastrons (lower shells) than the females.

The loggerhead sea turtle is found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. It spends most of its life in saltwater and estuarine habitats, with females briefly coming ashore to lay eggs.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassTestudines
FamilyCheloniidae
GenusCaretta

Related species in Suriname