🐢Green sea turtle
The green sea turtle, also known as the green turtle, black sea turtle, and Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean. The common name refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, due to its diet strictly being seagrass, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.
- Body mass
- 160 kg
- Body length
- not recorded
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 75 years
Everything we know about the Green sea turtle
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass160 kgrecord 230 kg · ReptTraitsAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Record: largest individual on record
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Maximum lifespan75 yearsrecord 75 years · ReptTraitsAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Record: largest individual on record
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Gestation59 daysAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Litter sizeabout 150AnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
DietOmnivorousReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleCathemeralReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Foraging modeACTReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
VenomousNoReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Carapace length0.9 mtypical adult, carapace lengthSeaLifeBaseOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0
Figures vary
- 1.05 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Snout–vent length1.5 mmaximum recordedReptTraitsDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l160 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Green sea turtle yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classTestudines
- ›familyCheloniidae
- ›genusChelonia
- ›speciesChelonia mydas
- orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
- superfamilyChelonioidea
- familyCheloniidae
- genusChelonia
All 13 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- orderSauria
- orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
- suborderCryptodira
- superfamilyChelonioidea
- familyCheloniidae
- genusChelonia
More about the Green sea turtle
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