Leatherback Turtle
Dermochelys coriacea
The biggest turtle in the world, with no hard shell, that dives deeper than any other turtle.
Every other sea turtle wears a hard shell made of plates. The leatherback doesn't: its back is covered in thick, rubbery skin with seven long ridges running down it. It's the largest turtle alive, it eats almost nothing but jellyfish, and it swims across entire oceans to do it. Of all reptiles, it is found in the most places in the world.
On the conservation status
Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List (assessed in 2013). That global label hides big differences: the East Pacific and West Pacific leatherbacks are each listed as Critically Endangered, with populations down by more than 80 percent in the West and more than 97 percent in the East.
- Length
- About 1.5–1.8 m (5–6 ft)
- Weight
- 340–450 kg (750–1,000 lb)
- Lifespan
- At least 45–50 years
- Diet
- Jellyfish and other soft-bodied animals
- Dives to
- Record 1,280 m (4,200 ft)
- Class
- Reptile — not a mammal
The good stuff.
A shell made of skin
The leatherback has no hard shell of plates. Its back is tough, rubbery skin with small bones tucked beneath it and seven ridges along its length. That's how it got its name.
Built for jellyfish
Leatherbacks have no crushing beak. Instead, the mouth and throat are lined with backward-pointing spines that stop slippery jellyfish from sliding back out.
The deepest turtle diver
A leatherback has been recorded diving to 1,280 m, deeper than any other turtle, and it can stay under for up to 85 minutes.
Across a whole ocean
Some leatherbacks swim over 10,000 miles in a year between their nesting beaches and their feeding grounds. Ones that nest in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands swim all the way to the coast of the United States to feed.
Beach babies
Every two to four years, a female comes ashore at night and lays around 100 eggs in a hole she digs in the sand. About two months later the hatchlings dig out and head for the sea on their own.
Hot sand, more girls
Whether a hatchling is a male or a female depends on how warm the sand is, and sand that gets too hot can kill the eggs. Warming beaches are a growing worry for leatherbacks.
Wait, really?
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The leatherback is found in more places than any other reptile, in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
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Leatherbacks have been tracked chasing jellyfish in water close to freezing, then warming up near the surface.
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In 2012, scientists listened to leatherback nests on Barra de la Cruz beach in Oaxaca, Mexico, and recorded sounds coming from the eggs and hatchlings.
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A leatherback hatchling is only about 6–7 cm long, and a grown one can weigh over 700 pounds.
What it sounds like
Mostly quiet at sea. But in 2012, scientists recorded leatherback eggs and hatchlings making sounds inside nests in Oaxaca, Mexico, which may help them hatch together.
We haven't found a recording we're allowed to share yet, so for now this one is a description.
Where you might see one
Mostly out at sea, so a sighting is rare. Leatherbacks nest on beaches across the tropics: in the United States mainly Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and in Mexico on Pacific beaches such as Barra de la Cruz in Oaxaca.
The trouble
- Getting caught by accident in fishing gear
- Eating plastic bags that look like jellyfish
- Egg collecting and poaching
- Boat strikes, and nesting beaches lost or heated up
One real thing
Never use plastic bags, and pick up any you see on the beach: to a leatherback, a floating bag looks a lot like a jellyfish. On a nesting beach at night, keep your distance and keep lights off, so hatchlings find the sea.
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