Loggerhead sea turtle🐢

Photo: ukanda · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesCheloniidae
Reptiles

🐢Loggerhead sea turtle

Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)

The loggerhead sea turtle, 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 than the females.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
30
Photos
1
Measurements
11
vs you
≈ 2.5× your weight
Also called
loggerhead turtle, Loggerhead turtle, Loggerhead Turtle
Conservation status
VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 2017.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
157 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
77 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Loggerhead sea turtle

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
157 kgrecord 250 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Maximum lifespan
77 yearsrecord 76 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
60 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 115
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Diet
Carnivorous
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Cathemeral
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Foraging mode
ACT
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Venomous
No
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Carapace length
1 mtypical adult, carapace length
SeaLifeBase
Other figures ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1.25 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Snout–vent length
2.13 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
157 Laverage
Details ↓

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 Loggerhead sea turtle yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classTestudines
  4. ›familyCheloniidae
  5. ›genusCaretta
  6. ›speciesCaretta caretta
Full lineage
  1. orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
  2. superfamilyChelonioidea
  3. familyCheloniidae
  4. genusCaretta
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
  10. suborderCryptodira
  11. superfamilyChelonioidea
  12. familyCheloniidae
  13. genusCaretta
More

More about the Loggerhead sea turtle

In other languages
لجأة مكتلة الرأس (ar), Unechte Karettschildkröte (de), Caretta caretta (es), Caretta caretta (fr), Caretta caretta (it), アカウミガメ (ja) … and 26 more languages

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