Sea Turtles—Part 2
Last week we had an introduction to sea turtles in general. Now let’s see what differences there are among them. Actually there are several varieties, but we will select only a few of the better-known ones.
The leatherbacks are the largest of all turtles. Mature ones weigh as much as 1500 pounds and are nearly six feet long. Because of their size they are safe from attack except from men with special equipment or a shark or killer whale. They can dive 4000 feet below the surface in search of food, a greater depth than any other air-breathing creature.
They do not have a hard shell like most turtles have, but are covered with a tough, leathery skin called a carapace. This carapace is composed of small bones embedded in the thick skin on their backs. But on their underside they have a more tender skin, no tougher than a human’s, which the Creator has provided to help them swim swiftly through water.
They are black, speckled with white, and have two, huge, long-spread front flippers, two shorter back ones, and a bony, short, V-shaped tail, all of which equips them to travel thousands of miles through ocean waters. Some tagged ones have been known to travel more than 3000 miles from their birthplace.
The leatherback is the only sea turtle that is capable of surviving in cold northern Atlantic waters, and many live there through summer months, enjoying the plentiful food supply in those waters. But most of them live in warmer waters off the coasts of Mexico and southern California, as well as in the Caribbean and warmer parts of the Atlantic.
The hawksbill makes its home in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. This is one of the smaller varieties, only about 30 inches long. It has a beautiful shell from which jewelers used to make items called “tortoise shell”, but that is no longer done.
An outstanding characteristic of the hawksbill is that its principal food is poisonous sponges which grow on coral reefs and are covered with a glass-like coating. Although this coating breaks up into sharp, needlelike crystals and contains a poison deadly to humans and other creatures, the hawksbill thrives on it. However, workers who used to cut the shell from this turtle exposed themselves to real trouble, because the tiny glass crystals were very painful when penetrating the skin. This is one reason why its shell no longer finds its way to jewelers’ shoes.
ML 11/18/1990