Name: Green Sea Turtle

Scientific name: Chelonia mydas

Description: The Green sea turtle is the largest hard-shelled sea turtle. A male can measure 100 cm over the top of the shell. Males usually weigh 150kg. The female is about the same length, but usually only weighs 136kg. Hatchlings weigh about 25 grams. The tops of their shells are about 50mm. They are black on top and white underneath. Adult shells are black, gray, green, and brown. They have irregular patterns of swirls. Green sea turtles grow slowly. In the southern Bahamas they have been measured at 30-75cm in 75 years.

Where it lives: The Green sea turtle lives in the coasts, open sea, within the tropic of cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. It lives in places all around the world where the temperature does not go below 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

Reproduction: Green sea turtles mate every second or third year. Males have claws for gripping the females. Green sea turtles travel hundreds of miles to get to their nesting beaches. There are a limited number of important nesting sites.