Loggerhead Sea Turtle


Loggerhead Sea Turtle

 

Angelina Kioussis

 

Description

 

Loggerhead Sea Turtles are ectotherms, an animal whose body does not produce much internal heat. And they are also vertebrates, which is an animal with a spine. They have a heart shaped shell, 5 pairs of lateral scutes, 5 central scutes, 4 prefrontal scales, and 3 inframarginal scutes. And did you know that the loggerhead sea turtle can live for 50 or more years.

An endangered loggerhead turtle swims gracefully along the sea floor.

Photograph by Brian J. Skerry

 

Habitat

 

The Majority of Loggerhead Sea Turtles nesting grounds are at the western rims of the Atlantic and Indian Ocian. They live deep in the sea and also many other places as well such as; bays, lagoons, salt marches, creeks, ship channels, and the mouths of large rivers.

 

Predator Adaptations

 

They eat invertebrates such as gastropods, bivalves, and decapods. They can also eat sponges, corals, sea pens, polichaete worms, sea anemones, cephalopods, barnacles, brachiopods, isopods, insects, bryozoans, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, starfish, hatchling turtles (yes their own species), fish, algae, and vascular plants. Also, during a certain period of time they'll eat jellyfish, floating molluscs, floating egg clusters, squid, and flying fish.

 

Prey Adaptations

 

The loggerhead sea turtles have to face a lot of threats in their lifetime, even as hatchlings. For example, the predators such as raccoons, crabs and ants will raid eggs and the hatchlings while they're still in the nest. Once the eggs have hatched, they are bite-sized for the birds, crabs, and a lot more predators. Luckily for the loggerhead sea turtle when they've reached adulthood they are safe from any unwanted predators, except for the occasional shark attack. 

 

I wish it wasn't true but humains are one of the main predators to the loggerhead see turtles. We eat their eggs and meat due to spiritual or mythological importance in some cultures. Sadly for the loggerhead sea turtle only about 1 in 1,000 to 10,000 will survive to adulthood. :(

 

Symbiotic Interactions

 

Sea turtles are known to have algae all over their shell, and fish can feed off the algae without actually hurting the turtle. In return fir the free meal given by the turtle to the fish, the fish leave the turtle clean of all algae that was on their shell.

 

Species comparison:  Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle

 

Similarities:

 

Obviously the first thing they have in common is that they're both sea turtles. They also have a few other similarities such as they both have 5 pairs of costal scutes and 2 pairs of prefrontal scutes. And another similarity would be that they'll both eat molluscs, jellyfish, algae, and sea urchins.

 

Differences:

 

Even though the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle is quite large, the loggerhead has a larger variety of food. Also the weight difference is quite large, an average loggerhead sea turtle would weigh about 200-400 pounds (90-180 kg) while the kemp's sea turtle will weigh about 75-100 pounds (34-45 kg). There's also the fact that the kemp's sea turtle is the only one species of sea turtles that nest during the day.

 

If you were to compare their shells you'll notice that the kemp's sea turtle's shell is almost as wide, or wider as it is long and the loggerhead sea turtle's shell is slightly heart shaped.

 

 

And now for my resources :

 

1. wiki answers. what is a ectotherm and endotherm. Saturday, May 25, 2013.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_animal_is_a_ectotherm_and_endotherm

 

2. Witherington, B., R. Herren, and M. Bresette.  2006.  Caretta caretta – loggerhead sea turtle.  Chelonian Research Monographs 3:74-89.

http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/seaturtles/turtle%20factsheets/loggerhead-sea-turtle.htm

 

3. wikipedia. loggerhead sea turtle. Saturday, May 25, 2013.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loggerhead_sea_turtle#Feeding

 

4. National Geographic. loggerhead sea turtle. Sunday, May 26, 2013

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/loggerhead-sea-turtle/#

 

5. Sea Turtle Conservancy. predators and prey adaptions for the loggerhead sea turtle. Monday, May 27, 2013

http://www.conserveturtles.org/seaturtleinformation.php?page=threats

 

6. See Seeturtles. Sea Turtle Identification. Tuesday, May 28, 2013

http://www.seeturtles.org/1893/sea-turtle-identification.html

 

7. Yahoo answers. What do Kemp's Ridley Sea turtles eat? Wednesday, May 29, 2013

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100912174728AAdXIZv

 

 

Thank-you! :)