trawls, some are eaten by fishermen, sold in local 

 markets, or mutilated as a result of entanglement 

 in the trawls (U.S. Department of Commerce 

 1976). According to Pritchard (1976), ridleys are 

 caught north and south of the Rio Grande off the 

 States of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, as well as 

 in Tabasco, Veracruz, and off the Campeche Bank 

 in Mexico. 



PRIORITY INDEX 



Not assigned. 



DESCRIPTION 



The ridley is a small sea turtle with an unusu- 

 ally broad (compared with other sea turtles), 

 heart-shaped, keeled carapace that is serrated be- 

 hind the bridge. It has a triangular head and a 

 somewhat hooked beak with large crushing sur- 

 faces. The plastron has several small pores on each 

 side, leading to Rathke's glands (secretory struc- 

 tures). 



Hatchlings are black on both sides. As the tur- 

 tle matures, the bridge and hingeless plastron 

 change to white, then yellow; and the carapace 

 changes to gray and then olive green. The head 

 and paddle-like limbs are gray. 



Adults weigh between 35 and 42 kg, and have 

 a carapace length of 56 tp 70 cm. 



Close examination of the carapace reveals five 

 pairs of pleural shields with the nuchal shield 

 touching the first costals. There are 12 to 14 mar- 

 ginals on each side of the carapace and pores in 

 the four bridge shields. 



Black-and-white photographs appear in Carr 

 (1952, 1967), Ernst and Barbour (1972), Bustard 

 (1973), Rebel (1974) and Pritchard (1976). 



RANGE 



Adults are restricted to the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Immatures may be observed along the Atlantic 

 coast as far north as Massachusetts and are sighted 

 infrequently along European shores. 



The former range was probably equivalent to 

 the present range (lUCN 1968, Witham 1976). 



RANGE MAP 



On the following pages distribution is shown 

 by shading, and U.S. nesting sites by dots. 



STATES/COUNTIES 



Alabama: Baldwin, Mobile. 

 Delaware: Sussex; 



Florida: Bay, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, 

 Citrus, Collier, Dade, Dixie, Duval, 

 Flagler, Franklin, Gulf, Hernando, 

 Hillsborough, Indian River, Jefferson, 

 Lee, Levy, Manatee, Martin, Monroe, 

 Nassau, Okaloosa, Palm Beach, Pasco, 

 Pinellas, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Santa 

 Rosa, Sarasota. Volusia, WakuUa, Wal- 

 ton. 



Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Glynn, Li- 

 berty, Mcintosh. 



Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson, Lafourche, 

 Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Mary, 

 Terrebonne, Vermilion. 



Worchester. 



Barnstable, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, 

 Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth. 



: Hancock, Harrison, Jackson. 



: Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth, 

 Ocean. 



Nassau, Suffolk. 



Brunswick, Carteret, Currituck, Dare, 

 Hyde, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender. 



Newport, Washington. 



Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, 

 GeorgetowTi, Horry. 



Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Cameron, 

 Chambers, Galveston, Jefferson, 

 Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, 

 Willacy. 



Accomack, Northampton. 



Georgia: 



Louisiana: 

 (parishes) 



Maryland: 



Massa- 

 chusetts: 



Mississippi 

 New Jersey 



New York: 



North 

 Carolina: 



Rhode 

 Island: 

 South 

 Carolina: 



Texas: 



Virginia: 



HABITAT 



The ridley inhabits shallow coastal and es- 

 tuarine waters; it is often associated with sub- 

 tropical shorelines of red mangrove [Rhizophora 

 mangle) (Witham 1976). 



FOOD AND FORAGING BEHAVIOR 



The ridley 's diet consists primarily of inverte- 

 brates, mostly crabs {Arenaeus, Calappa, Callinec- 

 tes, and Hepatus), but also shrimp, snails, sea ur- 

 chins, sea stars, fish, and, occasionally, marine 

 plants (Ernst and Barbour 1972, Pritchard and 

 Marquez M. 1973, R. Marquez M. personal 

 communication). 



