Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829)
Animalia (Kingdom) > Chordata (Phylum) > Vertebrata (Subphylum) > Gnathostomata (Infraphylum) > Tetrapoda (Megaclass) > Reptilia (Superclass) > Testudines (Order) > Cryptodira (Suborder) > Chelonioidea (Superfamily) > Cheloniidae (Family) > Lepidochelys (Genus) > Lepidochelys olivacea (Species)
Other names:
Vernacular names:
- Tamil: Citraamai / Cinna Aamai
- Telugu: Pacific Ridley tabelu / Olive Ridley tabelu
- Odisa: Olive ridley Kainch
- Bengali: Olive ridley kachchhap
- Malayalam: Oliveridley Kadalaama
- Kannada: Olive ridley aame
- Marathi: Oliveridley Kasav
- Gujarathi: Olive rangi nano dariyayi kachbo
- Hindi: Olive ridley kachhua
Identifying characters
- Large Head
- More than 5 pairs of pleural and prominent pores on sides of the plastron
- First pleural touches the nuchal, 4 prefrontal shields on head and one claw on each flipper
IUCN Red List Category and Criteria
Vulnerable A2bd ver 3.1
Date Assessed 30 June 2008, Year Published 2008
Movement patterns: Fully Migrant
Geographic range
NATIVE
Extant (resident)
Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Australia; Bangladesh; Benin; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Cameroon; Chile; Colombia; Congo; Costa Rica; Cuba; Côte d’Ivoire; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea (Bioko); Eritrea; French Guiana; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Honduras; India (Nicobar Is., Andaman Is.); Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Jamaica; Japan; Kenya; Liberia; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Martinique; Mauritania; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Oman; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Puerto Rico; Sao Tome and Principe (Sâo Tomé); Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Suriname; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; United States (Hawaiian Is.); Uruguay; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of (Venezuela (mainland), Venezuelan Antilles); Viet Nam; Yemen
Size: 1.8 to 2.5 m
Weight: 550 to 665 kg
Habitat: Inhabit open seas and rarely sighted from the nesting grounds
Food: Jellyfish, Planktonic tunicates and fishes
Breeding season: May and June
Nesting intensity: 4 to 6 times/season
Average Clutch size: 60 to 105 eggs
Maximum Clutch size observed: 90 to 130 eggs
Egg size: Spherical and about 6 cm in diameter
Survival rate: Highest survival rate among other sea turtle species
Problem: Plastic bags
Natural Predators: Shorebirds and mongooses, genets, coyotes, dogs, coatis, raccoons, monitor lizards, ghost crabs ranging from little plovers to large gulls in shore. sharks, requiem, cephalopods and various large fish in seas and ocean
References
Uetz, P. (ed.) (2022). The Reptile Database. Lepidochelys olivacea (Eschscholtz, 1829). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=220293 on 2022-11-26
