Dermochelys coriacea (Linnaeus, 1766)
Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761) – Accepted by WoRMS
Animalia (Kingdom) Chordata (Phylum) Vertebrata (Subphylum) Gnathostomata (Infraphylum) Tetrapoda (Megaclass) Reptilia (Superclass) Testudines (Order) Cryptodira (Suborder) Chelonioidea (Superfamily) Dermochelyidae (Family) Dermochelys (Genus) Dermochelys coriacea (Species)
Other names: Luth, Lute turtle
Vernacular names:
- Tamil: Thol ammai / Ezhuvari Aamai/ Thoazhammai
- Telugu: Veena tabelu / tholu tabelu / Dhoni tabelu
- Odiya: Charm Kainch
- Bengali: Chamda kachchhap
- Malayalam: Thopurakan Kadalaama
- Kannada: Charma aame
- Marathi: Tanak Katadi Pathiche Samudri Kasav
- Gujarathi: Charm pith dariyayi kachbo
- Hindi: Khaal kachhua
Identifying characters
- It is the largest of all living sea turtles, carapace straight, attaining a length of 150-170 cm
- It is the only living turtle having a shell made up of skin which has innumerable small bones embedded in it
- Seven prominent longitudinal ridges extend down the carapace, or upper shell, and five down the plastron, or lower shell.
- The leatherback’s limbs are clawless and paddlelike.
- Shell is unique in being continuous layer of thin, black, often while spotted skin
- Distinctive features are the absence of claws and scales
IUCN Red List Category and Criteria
Vulnerable A2bd ver 3.1
Date Assessedv21 June 2013, Year Published 2013
Movement patterns: Fully Migrant
Geographic Range
NATIVE
Extant (resident)
Albania; American Samoa; Angola; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Australia; Bahamas; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Bermuda; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba); Bosnia and Herzegovina; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Cameroon; Canada; Chile; China; Colombia; Comoros; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Costa Rica; Croatia; Cuba; Curaçao; Cyprus; Côte d’Ivoire; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Fiji; France (Clipperton I., France (mainland)); French Guiana; French Polynesia; French Southern Territories (Mozambique Channel Is.); Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Greece; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guam; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; India; Indonesia; Ireland; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Kenya; Kiribati; Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Lebanon; Liberia; Libya; Madagascar; Malaysia; Marshall Islands; Martinique; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mayotte; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Montenegro; Montserrat; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; New Caledonia; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Northern Mariana Islands; Palau; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Russian Federation; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin (French part); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Sao Tome and Principe; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Sint Maarten (Dutch part); Slovenia; Solomon Islands; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Syrian Arab Republic; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Togo; Tonga; Trinidad andTobago; Tunisia; Turks and Caicos Islands; Tuvalu; UnitedKingdom; United States; Uruguay; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.
Possibly Extinct
Israel
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
van der Land, J. (2001). Tetrapoda, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 375-376
Katona, S. K.; Rough, V.; Richardson, D. J. (1983). A field guide to the whales, porpoises and seals of the Gulf of Maine and eastern Canada, Cape Cod to Newfoundland. Charles Scribner’s Sons. New York. 1-255.
Muller, Y. (2004). Faune et flore du littoral du Nord, du Pas-de-Calais et de la Belgique: inventaire. [Coastal fauna and flora of the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Belgium: inventory]. Commission Régionale de Biologie Région Nord Pas-de-Calais: France. 307 pp., available online at http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/145561.pdf