The loggerhead turtle or loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) is an oceanic animal that belongs to the Cheloniidae family. This species is one of the largest sea turtles, weighing up to 200 kilograms. It has a huge head and a very strong and powerful jaw.
Its carapace is made up of non-overlapping plates, where the nuchal shield is connected to the first dorsal plate. The upper part and the head of the loggerhead turtle are orange-yellow or reddish-brown, while the ventral part is light yellow.
Stupid turtle. Source: Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee)
One aspect that distinguishes it from the rest of the species of its genus are the two claws it has on each fin. These are used to take food, tear meat and to help break the hard exoskeleton of some prey, such as crabs and bivalves.
Reproduction
Loggerhead turtles are sexually mature when adults and their shells are more than 3 feet in length. This occurs approximately between the ages of 17 and 33.
Courtship includes a variety of behaviors, including petting, biting, and flipper and head movements. Specialists indicate that the female produces pheromones that indicate to the male that she is ready to mate.
Before copulating, the male approaches the female, trying to mount her. Initially it could resist, but then they begin to surround themselves. In the case that there are several males trying to mate, the female moves away and allows them to fight each other.
The winner copulates with the female by grabbing her with his curved claws, causing damage to the couple's shell. Frequently, the other males that have failed to copulate, tend to bite the male that is with the female, generally injuring its tail and fins.
In most sea turtles, courtship and mating occur near the nesting shore. On the contrary, in the loggerhead turtle it happens along the migration route, between the reproductive and feeding areas.
Mating and nesting
Specialists indicate that ovulation is induced by mating. In addition, the female can store sperm from multiple males in the oviducts, until ovulation. Because of this, a litter could have up to seven different parents.
The nesting process takes between one and two hours. It generally occurs in open sandy areas or near dune grasses, which can be used to camouflage the nest. To lay eggs, the female comes out of the water, goes up to the beach and digs the sand from the surface, with the intention of forming a grave.
With the hind legs, the female excavates a chamber, where she lays between 115 and 125 eggs. After covering them with sand, the mother returns to the sea. On many occasions, the female returns to the same beach where they have previously nested.
Incubation lasts between 55 and 65 days, after which time the young emerge. These can be from light brown to black, without the typical red and yellow tones of the adult. They weigh about 20 grams and measure 4.6 centimeters.
Feeding
For most of its life, the loggerhead sea turtle is carnivorous. Although their eating behavior is generalist, as they grow older, their diet varies.
The hatchlings often eat sponges, sargassum seaweed, jellyfish and crustaceans. In the juvenile and adult stages they feed on clams, snails, horseshoe crabs, sea urchins and other crustaceans. Occasionally it may eat carrion.
During its migration to the open sea, it tends to hunt floating mollusks, jellyfish, pteropods, flying fish, floating eggs and squid.
Their diet is more extensive than that of other sea turtles. Thus, they consume corals, sponges, polychaete worms, sea feathers, starfish, anemones and baby turtles, including those of the same species.
Also, Caretta caretta can eat algae, such as those belonging to the genus Ulothrix, Ascophyllum, and Sargassum. Also, they feed on some vascular plants of the clade Cymodocea, Thalassia and Zostera.
Feeding method
Its powerful jaws allow it to crush the hard exoskeletons of crabs, bivalves, and snails. On the front legs it has pseudo-claws that allow it to manipulate food and tear the meat.
Once the food is ingested, the mucus-covered papillae at the front of the esophagus help to filter any foreign bodies that have entered.
Behavior
Migrations
Like the vast majority of sea turtles, loggerhead turtles are migratory. During their life, they use a wide range of habitats widely separated from each other. When the hatchlings leave the nesting beaches, they initiate an oceanic phase.
After staying in the oceans between 4 and 19 years, they move to areas rich in epilelagic and benthic prey, where they forage and grow until they reach maturity (approximately between 10 and 39 years).
At the time of reaching sexual maturity, Caretta caretta begins a reproductive migration between foraging and nesting regions. The interval between migrations varies between 2.5 and 3 years.
Communication
In this species, perception is highly developed. By the time the hatchlings emerge, they have the ability to analyze their environment. In this way, they can determine the direction they should take to head to the ocean. For this they rely on the light from the moon that falls on the ocean.
Once in the water, they use magnetic and chemical signals to orient themselves and navigate to the currents, where they will live for the next few years of their lives.
References
- Duermit, L. (2007). Caretta caretta. Animal Diversity. Recovered from animaldiversity.org.
- Wikipedia (2019). Loggerhead be turtle. Recovered from en.wikipedia.org.
- Casale, P., Tucker, AD (2017). Caretta caretta (amended version of 2015 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017. Recovered from iucnredlist.org
- Marinebio (2019). Loggerhead Sea Turtles, Caretta caretta. Recovered from marinebio.org.
- Lindsay Partymiller (2019). Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta). Recovered from srelherp.uga.edu.
- Lutcavage ME, Lutz PL, Baier H. (1989). Respiratory mechanics of the loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta. Recovered from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
- ITIS (2019). Caretta caretta. Recovered from itis.gov.