Marine Turtles

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Marine Reptiles

• Marine Turtles
• Sea Snakes
• Marine Iguana
• Saltwater Crocodiles

By Phyllis Butler
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Marine Reptiles

• Reptile Facts
• Marine Turtles
• Sea Snakes
• Marine Iguanas
• Saltwater Crocodiles
• The Galapagos Islands

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Everything you wanted to know about Marine
Reptiles and more
Reptile Facts
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MARINE REPTILES
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Marine Reptiles

• Class Reptilia
• Turtles
• Snakes
• Lizards
• Crocodile

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Marine ReptilesCharacteristics

• Reptiles
• Vertebrate animals with lungs
• 3 to 4 chambered hearts
• Scaly skin
• A special leathery pliable type of egg
• They can live their entire life out of water

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More Characteristics of a Reptile

• All reproduce on land
• Reptiles are ectotherms . They regulate body
  temperature by the sun

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Respiratory System

• All have air breathing Lungs

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Type of Nutrition

• Turtles eat animals and plants
• Iguanas eat plants, insects, and some animals
• Snakes eat earthworms, insects, and fish
• Crocs eat Crustaceans, Snakes, Birds, Mammals and
  Fish

Marine Iguana
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Marine Reptiles

• Some snakes eat other snakes.
• Crocodiles eat fish and land animals,
• if they can catch them.
• Crocodiles often store the remains under
• rocks, and return later when they get
• Hungry.

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Type of Reproduction

• Turtles - male chase female and claws her
• Iguanas - Iguanas lay eggs
• Snakes - males use rapid tongue movement to
  attract female
• Crocs Dominate males mate with females that lay
  eggs

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Can Parts of Reptiles Regenerate?

• Yes, the tail can regenerate.
• Does not replace the segmented vertebrae.
• A second tail may be formed

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Marine Turtles
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Sea Turtles

• Green Turtle

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Background on Sea Turtles

• Sea turtles have lived in the oceans for over 180
  million years.
• Some Sea turtles migrate long distances between
  their feeding grounds and nesting sites.
• Sea turtles shells are called a carapace, four
  strong, paddle-like flippers and like all
  reptiles, lungs for breathing air. The
  characteristic beak-like mouth is used to shear
  or crush food.

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More About Sea Turtles

• All Sea turtle species are experiencing serious
  threats to their survival. The main threats are
  pollution and changes to important turtle
  habitats, over-harvesting of turtles and eggs,
  and predation of eggs and hatchlings
• There are only a few large nesting populations of
  the Kemps Ridley, Green, Hawksbill and
  Loggerhead turtles left in the world.

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Introduction to Sea Turtles

• The eight species of Sea Turtles are unable to
  retract their appendages.
• Six of the Eight species live in the waters
  around Australia and New Zealand.
• ALL species are in danger of becoming extinct and
  are on the endangered or threatened species list

Leather Back Sea Turtle
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More Sea Turtle Facts

• Sea Turtles mate offshore
• Lay eggs on land at night
• Dig hole in sand and lay up to 160 eggs
• Incubation period two months
• Gender of hatchlings determined by incubation
  temperature
• Warm ? Females
• Cool ? Males
• Females return to same beach each year
• Require 10 years to reach sexual maturity

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Sea Turtle Anatomy
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Flatback Sea Turtle
Description

• 4 pairs or more of large scales on either side
  (coastal scales)
• Thick overlapping carapace scales
• Carapace low domed with upturned edges
• Color olive grey
• Adult carapace approx. 0.9m

Flatback Sea Turtle carapace
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Flatback Sea Turtle

• Diet
• The flatback turtle is carnivorous, feeding
  mostly on soft bodied prey such as sea cucumbers,
  soft corals and jellyfish

Jellyfish
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Flatback Sea Turtle
Range and Breading Grounds

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Green Sea Turtle
Description

• 4 pairs of large scales on either side (coastal
  scales)
• Does not have thick overlapping scales
• Carapace high domed
• Color light to dark green with dark mottling

Green Sea Turtle Carapace
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Green Sea Turtle

• Diet
• Adult greens feed mostly on seaweeds and
  seagrasses although immature greens are
  carnivorous.

Seaweed
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Green Marine Turtle

• World Wide Range and Breeding Grounds

• The range of the Green Marine Turtle,
• ( Chelonia mydas ), is the largest of any of
  the sea turtles

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Black Sea Turtle
Introduction

• The black sea turtle is controversial because not
  all scientists consider it to be a species. It is
  often considered to be merely a subspecies of the
  green turtle and it is classified as Chelonia
  mydas agassizii.

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Black Sea Turtle

• General Description
• The head size is comparatively smaller than that
  of green sea turtles.
• Adult black turtles weigh as much as 220 pounds.
• It nests at night and has 70 eggs.

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Black Sea Turtle

• Diet
• Black sea turtles are not carnivores
• Their diet consist mainly of algae, sea grasses,
  jellies

Sea Grass
Jellyfish
Red Algae
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle

• Description
• long, slightly tapering carapace
• 5 pairs (rarely 6) of large scales on each side
  (coastal scales)
• Carapace longer than wide
• Color red-brown to brown
• Adult carapace approx. 1.0m

Loggerhead Sea Turtle Carapace
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle

• Diet
• Loggerheads are carnivorous
• They feed mostly on shellfish, crabs, sea urchins
  and jellyfish.

Sea Urchins
Crab
Jellyfish
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle
World Wide Range and Breeding Grounds

• Loggerhead turtles can be found in all of the
  oceans of the world
• Major nesting areas are in Australia, Japan,
  United States and Central America

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Loggerhead Sea Turtle

• Endangered
• The Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) is on the
  endangered species list Internationally and in
  all countries where they nest.
• The loggerhead turtle has lost 50-80 of its
  annual nesting population in the last decade.
• Further loss of only hundreds of loggerhead
  turtles annually may threaten the survival of the
  species in worldwide

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Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

• Description

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Carapace
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Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

• Diet
• The olive ridley turtle is carnivorous, feeding
  mostly on shellfish and small crabs.

Lobster
Shrimp
Crab
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Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

• Arribada
• Mass egg laying frenzies.
• "Arribadas" occur all through the year, at least
  once a month and, in some months, may occur
  twice. The months between June and December,
  during the rainy season, see larger "arribadas".
  That means that the number of nesting turtles may
  be in the range of hundreds of thousands as
  opposed to tens of thousands for the dry season
  months.

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Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

• Arribadas

Olive Ridley Arribadas
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Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

• Distribution and Habitats
• Olive ridleys occur in shallow, protected waters,
  especially in soft-bottomed habitats.

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Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

• World Wide Distribution

• The largest "arribada" thus far recorded in
  Ostional (Costa Rica), took place in November
  1995 when a calculated 500 000 females came
  ashore.

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Hawksbill Sea Turtle

• Description

Hawksbill Marine Turtle Carapace
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Hawksbill Sea Turtle
(Eretmochelys imbricata) The Hawksbill Turtle
gets its name from its hawk-like beak. . This
turtle's shell is the source of "tortoise shell",
and because of this commercial exploitation has
caused their numbers to dwindle. Their shell and
oils are in constant demand, placing this turtle
in danger.

• Diet
• Sponges make up a major part of the diet of
  hawksbills.
• They also feed on seagrasses, algae, soft corals
  and shellfish.

Yellow Sponge
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Hawksbill Sea Turtle

• World Wide Range and Breeding Grounds

• The Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys
  imbricata), prefers shallow coastal waters.
• It is the most tropical of all sea turtles.

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Leatherback Sea Turtle

• Description

Leatherback Marine Turtle Carapace
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Leatherback Sea Turtle

• Diet
• The leatherback turtle is carnivorous and feeds
  mainly in the open ocean on jellyfish and other
  soft-bodied invertebrates

Sea Nettle Jellyfish (Chrysaora fuscescens)
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Leatherback Sea Turtle
Australian Breeding Areas
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Leatherback Sea Turtle

• (Dermochelys coriacea)
• The Leatherback is the largest of the sea
  turtles. They can reach a length of 6 feet
• Unlike the other turtles, the
• Leatherback's shell has no scales. Instead it is
  covered with a rubbery leather-like skin.

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Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle

• Background
• Modern history finds this smallest of sea turtles
  fighting its way back from the brink of
  extinction.

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Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle
Range and Breading Grounds

• The range of the Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle is from
  the Caribbean Sea to Eastern Canada
• The only major nesting site is in the Gulf of
  Mexico

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Sea Turtle Population Decline

• Typical sea turtle population reduction

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Endangered Sea Turtles

• Tens of thousands of sea turtles drown each year
  in shrimp trawl nets around the world, despite
  the fact that a simple, but effective solution
  exists.
• Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) are small
  trap-doors, sewn into shrimp nets, which release
  more than 95 percent of sea turtles and other
  marine species trapped in trawl nets.
• TEDs have been required on all U.S. domestic
  shrimp boats for more than 10 years, and
  international use of TEDs and other conservation
  measures can help bring all species of sea turtle
  back from the brink of extinction.

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Endangered Sea Turtles

• The "shrimp and sea turtle" dispute continues at
  the WTO to this day. In November 2000, some
  countries challenged the steps the U.S.
  government had taken to implement the WTO
  Appellate Body decision, and in May 2001, a WTO
  dispute panel found that the U.S. had taken
  sufficient steps to implement this decision.
• National Wildlife Federation is working to ensure
  that our sea turtle protection law is defended
  and upheld despite these continued trade
  challenges.

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TED NETS
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The EndSea Turtles
Help Protect our Planets Resources
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Sea Snakes and sea Kraits
Sea Snakes
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Sea Snakes

• Yellowbellied Sea Snake

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Introduction to Sea Snakes

• There are about 80 species of
• sea snakes.
• Sea snakes are very venomous,
• bur not very aggressive.
• An average sized sea snake can produce 10-15
  milligrams of venom. The fatal dose for humans is
  1.5 milligrams!
• Their poison is 20 times more powerful than the
  one of the cobra, but they inject much less if
  they inject any at all.

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Adaptation to Sea Life...

• 1 develop salt excreting glands under tongue
• 2 develop flatten paddle-shaped tail and
  laterally compressed body (swim)
• 3 reducing metabolic rate can stay submerged
  for long time by decreasing metabolic rate and
  develop increase intolerance for low oxygen
  levels. Valve-like flaps over nostrils stop
  water flowing into lungs
• 4 greatly enlarged lungs extend to base of tail
  enabling large volume of oxygen to be stored in
  lungs
• 5 believed that parts of lungs function as
  hydrostatic organ regulating snake buoyancy
• 6 gaseous exchange occurs through both the lungs
  and skin

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Sea snake Sub Groups

• Two main sub groups
• true- specialized for fully aquatic existence,
  live birth, never leave water
• sea kraits- hunt food in water, land to digest
  food, mate, shed skin and lay eggs

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Sea snakes
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ReproductionBreeding

• Oviparous / Viviparous however...
• two methods of mating
• mate and lay eggs on shore in crevices or caves
• mate at sea and give birth to live young (true)

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Diet

• 2 subdivisions to behavior bottom feeders- 100
  meters to locate and devour prey
• pelagic feeders- surface feeders drift with the
  warm tide
• catch prey with sideways strike of the head
  bite,inject venom into prey,
• eels, fish, fish eggs, own eggs, cuttlefish, crabs

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Yellowbellied Sea Snake

• The most dangerous snake in the world
• There is no known anti-toxin
• If you are bitten by this snake you will die
• However, these snakes are found mostly in the
  open sea.
• They are not aggressive and rarely bite humans.

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Sea krait

• Sea Kraits are extremely venomous

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SEA SNAKES

• Kraits have three different types of neurotoxins.
• Sea snakes have a neurotoxin as well as two blood
  toxins (one causes lysis blood cells, the other
  is an anti-coagulant).

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Sea snake Venom

• 2-10 times toxic than cobras 1 drop kills 3
  men
• Bites usually unnoticedlittle pain, swelling,
  inflammation, fang marks barely visiblesometimes
  fangs are in wounds
• Causes respiratory arrest and paralyzes skeletal
  muscles
• Paralyzing agent to the nervous system causes
  suffocation
• Due to a bite reflex, sea snakes can bite and
  inject venom up to hour after death, even after
  decapitation

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Venom Extraction

• Needed for anti-venom

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Marine Iguana
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MARINE IGUANA

• Amblyrhynchus cristatus
• The only sea-going lizard is
• found in the Galapagos Islands

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Marine Iguanas

• Can dive to 15 m
• Can hold breath for 30-60 minutes
• Good swimmers
• Long, laterally flattened tail

• Marine Iguana

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Marine Iguana

• One species Galápagos Islands
• Males colored more brightly than females
• Different populations (different coloration) on
  various islands

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Darwins Iguanas
Territorial Males fight to establish
territories Males maintain harems Females dig
nests in sand for eggs
Marine Iguana
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Iguana in the Galapagos
Feed on algae
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Marine Iguana
Eliminate salt through salt glands near nostrils
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Aggressive and potentially dangerous to people
Saltwater Crocodile
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CROCODILIANS

• SUBFAMILIES
• ALLIGATORINAE
• CROCODYLINAE
• GAVIALINAE

23 SPECIES
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SaltWater Crocs

• Largest crocodile species - Males larger than
  females
• May reach 23 feet and 1000 kg

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Crocs are slow starters

• Slow to reach sexual maturity
• Males mature at 15-16 years
• Females mature at 10-12 years

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Saltwater Crocodile

• One species
• East Indian Ocean,
• W Pacific, Australia

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Crocs can Live on Land

• Diverse diet
• Crustaceans, Snakes, Birds, Mammals and Fish

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SaltWater Crocs

• They Eat Fish

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SaltWater Crocs

• Mostly inhabit mangrove forests

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Galapagos Islands
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Galapagos Marine Reptiles

• The waters around the Galapagos team with
  abundant life forms, some that are unique to them.

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Galapagos Claim to Fame

• Darwins Historical Visit
• Unique Flora and Fauna
• Tame animals

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How to take advantage of this fragile resource
while protecting it?

• Tourism is the only industry has been successful
  in the Galapagos.
• Large population can not be supported on Islands.

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Economic Significanceof a Galagapos Marine
Reptiles

• Some reptiles are eaten on occasions
• The Green turtle, and the Galapagos turtle are
  the most eaten turtles
• Leather goods are made from the skins of some
  reptiles
• Lizards are used in science experiments

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This Fragile resource is being abused

• Unique but fragile ecosystems.
• Many species threatened or on the brink of
  extinction.
• Local Sharks
• Galapagos Tortoise
• Land Iguana
• Mangrove Finch

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Galapagos Marine Reserve

• In 1998 Ecuador signed a law prohibiting
  industrial fishing within 40 miles of Galapagos.
• Local Fishers Protested
• Currently being enforced by Ecuadorian Navy and
  GNPS.
• Columbian and Costa Rican boats captured with 619
  fins and 100 bodies of sharks.

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Conclusion

• Marine reptiles are an important part of our
  planets heritage and we are rapidly eliminating
  them.
• We all need to be aware of the damage that we are
  causing to this planet that is leading to our own
  and our heirs demise.

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The End

• By Phyllis Butler for her Oceanography Class