Relatively undisturbed beaches are necessary 

 for nesting. Increasing development and use of 

 beaches is incompatible with sea turtle reproduc- 

 tion. Illumination of beaches at night, for exam- 

 ple, can distract hatchlings away from the sea 

 (McFarlane 1963). 



Sea turtles are caught incidentally to commer- 

 cial fishing and shrimping activities. Some turtles 

 are eaten by fishermen, some are sold in local 

 markets, and some are mutilated or drowned as 

 a result of entanglement in trawls (U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Commerce 1976). 



PRIORITY INDEX 



Not assigned. 



DESCRIPTION 



The green turtle is a large sea turtle with a 

 broad, heart-shaped shell and small head. Flippers 

 are paddle shaped, each with a single claw. Adults 

 are 91 to 122 cm long and weigh 100 to 200 kg. 



The color varies widely. In general, hatch- 

 lings have black carapaces, white plastrons, and 

 white margins on the shell and limbs. Adults have 

 a smooth, keelless carapace, colored light to dark 

 brown, with brown mottling. The plastron is 

 whitish to hght yellow; the upper surface of the 

 head is light brown with yellow markings; sides of 

 the head are brown with broad yellow margins; 

 the neck is dusky above and yellow near the shell 

 below. The tail and flippers are colored like the 

 carapace and plastron. 



The carapace can be identified by four costal 

 plates, none of which borders the nuchal shield, 

 and by the absence of jagged marginals. Large 

 scutes on the carapace do not overlap. There is 

 only one pair of prefrontals between the eyes. 



This species is illustrated in Carr (1967), Par- 

 sons (1962), Ernst and Barbour (1972), Rebel 

 (1974), and Riedman and Witham (1974). 



RANGE 



The green turtle is distributed world-wide in 

 waters above 20° C in the coldest month. Juveniles 

 are sometimes found over a wider temperature 

 range and thus a greater area. Green turtles live in 

 waters off the North American coast from Massa- 

 chusetts to Mexico and from British Columbia to 

 Baja California (U.S. Department of Commerce 

 1976). They are uncommon off California. 



Major nesting grounds in the Western Hemi- 

 sphere include the Michoacan Coast, Mexico; Tor- 

 tuguero, Costa Rica; Shell Beach, Guyana; Bigi 



Santi, Surinam; and Aves Island. See Hirth (1971) 

 for nesting sites in the Eastern Hemisphere. 



Known annual nesting in the continental U.S. 

 is limited to small nesting populations of the east 

 coast of Florida, from Brevard County to Brow- 

 ard County. Jupiter and Hutchinson Islands have 

 the greatest number of nests. For detailed infor- 

 mation on nesting at Hutchinson Island, see Galla- 

 ger et al. (1972) and Worth and Smith (1976). 



Their former distribution included nesting 

 beaches on the Dry Tortugas, Cayman Islands, 

 several other previously undisturbed islands, and 

 more extensively in Florida (lUCN 1968). 



A small population of Pacific green turtles 

 {Chelonia mydas agassizii) bask and nest on some 

 of the islands in the Hawaiian Islands National 

 Wildlife Refuge. These islands are Federally owned 

 and protected, although until recently, according 

 to Balazs (1976), turtles had been harvested. 



In Florida, green turtles have nested on pub- 

 licly owned lands in Merritt Island and Hobe 

 Sound National Wildlife Refuges, and St. Lucie 

 and Sebastian State Parks, Other nesting beaches 

 are privately owned and the Florida Department 

 of Natural Resources, according to R. Witham 

 (personal communication), protects all nesting on 

 these beaches. 



RANGE MAP 



Distribution offshore continental U.S. is illus- 

 trated on the following maps by shading of the 

 adjacent coastline; nesting beaches are depicted 

 by dots. 

 STATES/COUNTIES 



Alabama Baldwin, Mobile. Mobile. 



California Del Norte, Humboldt, Los Angeles, 

 Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Orange, 

 San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis 

 Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, 

 Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Ventura. 



Delaware Sussex. 



Florida Bay, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Cit- 

 rus, Collier, Dade, Dixie, Duval, Flag- 

 ler, Franklin, Gulf, Hernando, Hillsbo- 

 rough, Indian River, Jefferson, Lee, 

 Levy, Manatee, Martin, Monroe, 

 Nassau, Okaloosa, Palm Beach, Pasco, 

 Pinellas, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Santa 

 Rosa, Sarasota, Volusia, Wakulla, Wal- 

 ton. 



Georgia Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Glynn, Li- 

 berty, Mcintosh. 



