Species

Leatherback sea turtle

Dermochelys coriacea

The largest turtle in the world, a deep-diving jellyfish eater that passes Georgia's coast each spring and autumn.

Photo Pam Kleinsasser (opens in a new tab) / iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)

At a glance

Size: Shell usually 1.5 to 1.8 m long
Weight: Usually 250 to 700 kg
Habitat: Open ocean; nests on sandy beaches
Diet: Jellyfish and other soft-bodied animals
In Georgia: Passes offshore in spring and autumn; a few nest on Georgia beaches in some years
Rabies vector: No

Identification

Key marks: Huge; no hard scutes, but a leathery, dark back with seven long ridges and pale spots
Told apart from: All other sea turtles, which have hard shells
Where to look: Rarely seen from shore; occasionally at the surface offshore

Behaviour

Leatherbacks dive deeper than a kilometre and travel thousands of kilometres between feeding grounds and nesting beaches. They keep their bodies warmer than the surrounding water, which lets them feed in cold northern seas.

Why they matter

By eating great numbers of jellyfish, leatherbacks help keep jellyfish populations in check. Plastic bags in the sea look like jellyfish to them, and swallowing plastic is one of the threats they face.

Reproduction and lifecycle

Nest — Dug in the beach at night
Eggs — About 80 fertile eggs per nest, with smaller yolkless ones on top
Incubation — About 55 to 75 days
Hatchlings — Black with white-lined flippers
Maturity — At roughly 15 to 30 years
Lifespan — Decades

Living around people

Keep plastic out of the sea; balloons and bags are swallowed as jellyfish.
A stranded leatherback needs a licensed wildlife rehabilitator at once.
Sea turtles are protected under federal law in the United States.

Misconceptions

Leatherbacks are cold like other reptiles. They keep their bodies warmer than the water around them.

Related species

Seasonal activity

When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.

Breeding and active nests by month for this species
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Breeding	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Active nests	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Notes	Farther south	Farther south	Moving north	Passing Georgia's coast	Passing; a few nesting	Nesting in some years	Farther north	Farther north	Moving south	Passing Georgia's coast	Passing	Farther south

Where it lives

Recorded in 29 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.

Canada

Mexico

If you found one

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