Islands) , although a few nests are recorded each year on many of 

 the islands of the Caribbean. 



Good leatherback beaches show certain common 

 characteristics. In particular, the absence of a fringing reef 

 appears to be important, and most beaches have high-energy wave 

 action and steep ascent, deep, rock-free sand, and adjacent very 

 deep ocean. However, in the Guianas the adjacent waters are 

 relatively shallow, but the presence of abundant mud and the 

 absence of rocks or coral apparently make these beaches 

 acceptable for nesting. 



Food habits ; The leatherback is primarily a water-column 

 rather than benthic feeder, and an increasing body of evidence 

 suggests that the principal diet consists of coelenterates. Many 

 species of jellyfish have been found in leatherback stomachs, 

 although the watery nature of this food, resulting in rapid 

 breakdown in the digestive tract, usually requires that the food 

 species be identified by microscopic examination of the 

 nematocysts. The leatherback has numerous adaptations of the 

 head and mouth towards this diet. The jaws, although not nearly 

 as strong as those of, say, loggerheads, are sharp-edged and 

 scissor-like in action. The throat musculature is very highly 

 developed, to generate a powerful inrush of water as the prey is 

 seized. Moreover, the esophagus, which may be nearly two meters 

 in length, is lined with thousands of sharp but flexible spines, 

 all directed towards the stomach, so that, when the water taken 

 in with the prey is expelled, the food itself is retained. 

 Although this would appear to be an unlikely and insubstantial 

 diet for the largest of all turtles, evidence suggests that the 

 species may reach mature size remarkably rapidly. 



Reproductive ecology ; The leatherback may travel great 

 distances between its feeding and nesting areas, and several 

 instances of the migration of tagged animals from nesting grounds 

 in the southern Caribbean or the Guianas to the waters of New 

 York or New England have been recorded, and in one case a post- 

 nesting female moved from the Guianas to West Africa (Ghana) 

 within a few months. 



However, such demanding migrations do not appear to be 

 undertaken annually, and in nearly all cases recorded 

 remigrations of leatherbacks to their nesting grounds have been 

 two or three years after initial tagging. Nevertheless, within a 

 season, productivity may be iinmense, with up to ten nestings 

 having been recorded, the typical inter-nesting interval being of 

 the order of ten days. 



The eggs are large — 5.5 or 6 cm in diameter — but are not as 

 numerous as those of other sea turtles. In the Atlantic, the 

 typical nest includes 80-90 normal eggs, with the addition of a 

 variable number of yolkless, undersized eggs, very variable in 



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