Misplaced Pages

Sea turtle

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 216.204.206.155 (talk) at 17:21, 8 September 2010 (→Conservation). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 17:21, 8 September 2010 by 216.204.206.155 (talk) (→Conservation)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Sea turtles
Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle
Conservation status

Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Chelonioidea
Bauer, 1893
Genera

Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea) inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.

sea turtles live in the sea with fish and sharks and sea weed and sea turtles

Biology

Respiration

Life history

Salt gland

Importance to humans

Moche Sea Turtle. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection, Lima, Peru
"Manner in which Natives of the East Coast strike turtle". Near Cooktown, Australia. From Phillip Parker King's Survey. 1818.

Marine turtles are caught worldwide, although it is illegal to hunt most species in many countries. A great deal of intentional marine turtle harvests worldwide are for food.

Many parts of the world have long considered sea turtles to be fine dining. Ancient Chinese texts dating to the fifth century B.C. describe sea turtles as exotic delicacies. Many coastal communities around the world depend on sea turtles as a source of protein, often harvesting several turtles at once and keeping them alive on their backs until needed. Coastal peoples gather turtle eggs for consumption.

Turtles are popular in Mexico as boot material and food.

To a much lesser extent, specific species of marine turtles are targeted not for their flesh, but for their shells. Tortoiseshell, a traditional decorative ornamental material used in Japan and China, comes from the carapace scutes of the hawksbill turtle. Ancient Greeks and ancient Romans processed turtle scutes (primarily from the hawksbill) for various articles and ornaments used by their elites, such as combs and brushes. The skin of the flippers are prized for use as shoes and assorted leather goods.

The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals. They often depicted sea turtles in their art.

Sea turtles enjoy immunity from the sting of the deadly box jellyfish and regularly eat them, helping keep tropical beaches safe for humans.

Sea turtles, especially green sea turtles, are one of the few animals that eat sea grass. Sea grass needs to be constantly cut short to help it grow across the sea floor. Sea turtles act as grazing animals that cut the grass short and help maintain the health of the sea grass beds. Sea grass beds provide breeding and developmental grounds for numerous species of fish, shellfish and crustaceans. Without sea grass beds, many marine species humans harvest would be lost, as would the lower levels of the food chain. The reactions could result in many more marine species eventually becoming endangered or extinct.

Beaches and dune systems do not get many nutrients. Sea turtles use beaches and the lower dunes to nest and lay their eggs. Sea turtles lay around 100 eggs in a nest and lay between 3 and 7 nests during the summer nesting season. Along a 20 mile stretch of beach on the east coast of Florida sea turtles lay over 150,000 lbs of eggs in the sand. Dune vegetation is able to grow and become stronger with the presence of nutrients from turtle eggs, unhatched nests, eggs and trapped hatchlings. As the dune vegetation grows stronger and healthier, the health of the entire beach/dune ecosystem becomes better. Stronger vegetation and root systems helps to hold the sand in the dunes and helps protect the beach from erosion.

Beach towns, such as Tortuguero, Costa Rica, have transitioned from a tourism industry that made profits from selling sea turtle meat and shells to an ecotourism-based economy. Tortuguero is considered to be the founding location of sea turtle conservation. In the 1960s the cultural demand for sea turtle meat, shells, and eggs were quickly killing once abundant sea turtle populations that nested on the beach. The Caribbean Conservation Corporation began working with villagers to promote ecotourism as a permanent substitute to sea turtle hunting. Sea turtle nesting grounds became sustainable. Since the creation of a sea turtle, ecotourism-based economy, Tortugero annually houses thousands of tourists who visit the protected 22-mile beach that hosts sea turtle walks and nesting grounds.

Fragile ecosystems

[[

Taxonomy and evolution

Immature Hawaiian Green turtle in shallow waters
Eurysternum wagneri fossil at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

Sea turtles, along with other turtles and tortoises, are part of the order Testudines.

The seven living species of sea turtles are: flatback, green sea turtle, Hawksbill, Kemp's Ridley, Leatherback, Loggerhead and Olive Ridley. All species except the leatherback are in the family Cheloniidae. The leatherback belongs to the family Dermochelyidae and is its only member.

The species are primarily distinguished by their anatomy: for instance, the prefrontal scales on the head, the number of and shape of scutes on the carapace, and the type of inframarginal scutes on the plastron. The leatherback is the only sea turtle that does not have a hard shell; instead, it bears a mosaic of bony plates beneath its leathery skin. It is the largest sea turtle, measuring 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 m) in length at maturity, and 3 to 5 feet (0.91 to 1.52 m) in width, weighing up to 1,300 pounds (590 kg). Other species are smaller, being mostly 2 to 4 feet (0.61 to 1.22 m) and proportionally narrower.

Sea turtles constitute a single radiation that became distinct from all other turtles at least 110 million years ago.

From SWOT Report, vol. 1:

Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic relationships of living and extinct sea turtles in the family Cheloniidae based on Lynch and Parham (2003) and Parham and Pyenson (2010). In a wider sense (sensu lato), Cheloniidae includes many extinct species dating back to the Late Cretaceous. In the strictest sense (sensu stricto), Cheloniidae includes only living sea turtles and a few more recently extinct species. The leatherback sea turtle is placed within Cheloniidae in the tribe Carretini, along with the Ridley sea turtles.

Cheloniidae sensu lato 

†Toxochelys

†Mexichelys

†Lophochleyinae

†Euclastes

†Argillochelys

†Eochelone

†Erquelinnesla

†Pacifichelys

†Puppigerus

 Cheloniidae sensu stricto 

†Syllomus

†Procolpochelys

Chelonia mydas

Natator depressus

Eretmochelys imbricata

 Carettini 
 Lepidochelys 

Lepidochelys kempii

Lepidochelys olivacea

Dermochelys coriacea

See also

Additional reading

  • Brongersma, L.D. (1972). "European Atlantic Turtles". Zoologische Verhandelingen Vol. 121 pp. 1–318. PDF
  • Davidson, Osha Gray. (2001). Fire in the Turtle House: The Green Sea Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean. United States: United States of Public Affairs. ISBN 1-5864-8199-1.
  • Sizemore, Evelyn (2002). The Turtle Lady: Ila Fox Loetscher of South Padre. Plano, Texas: Republic of Texas Press. p. 220. ISBN 1556228961.
  • Spotila, James R. (2004). Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8007-6.
  • Witherington, Blair E. (2006). Sea Turtles: An Extraordinary Natural History of Some Uncommon Turtles. St. Paul: Voyageur Press. ISBN 0-7603-2644-4.

References

  1. CITES (14 June 2006). "Appendices" (SHTML). Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
  2. UNEP-WCMC. "Eretmochelys imbricata A-301.003.003.001". UNEP-WCMC Species Database: CITES-Listed Species. United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
  3. Schafer, Edward H. (1962). "Eating Turtles in Ancient China". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 82 (1). American Oriental Society: 73–74. doi:10.2307/595986. Retrieved 16 February 2007.
  4. Sam Settle, 1995. Marine Turtle Newsletter 68:8-13
  5. Yahoo.com, Endangered turtle nests found in Texas
  6. Heppel, Selina S. (1996). "Analysis of a Fisheries Model for Harvest of Hawksbill Sea Turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata)". Conservation Biology. 10 (3). Blackwell Publishing: 874–880. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1996.10030874.x. Retrieved 16 February 2007. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. Strieker, Gary (10 April 2001). "Tortoiseshell ban threatens Japanese tradition". CNN.com/sci-tech. Cable News Network LP, LLLP. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
  8. Casson, Lionel (1982). "Periplus Maris Erythraei: Notes on the Text". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 102. The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies: 204–206. doi:10.2307/631139. Retrieved 16 February 2007.
  9. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
  10. http://cccturtle.org/seaturtleinformation.php?page=whycareaboutseaturtles
  11. http://cccturtle.org/seaturtleinformation.php?page=whycareaboutseaturtles
  12. http://www.tortugueroinfo.com/usa/sea_turtles_tortuguero.htm
  13. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/25/travel/turtle-watch-in-costa-rica.html?scp=3&sq=costa%20rica,%20sea%20turtle&st=cse
  14. The East Pacific sub-population of the green turtle was previously classified as a separate species, the black turtle, but DNA evidence indicates that it is not evolutionarily distinct from the green turtle.Karl, Stephen H. (1999). "Evolutionary Significant Units versus Geopolitical Taxonomy: Molecular Systematics of an Endangered Sea Turtle (genus Chelonia)". Conservation Biology. 13 (5). Blackwell Synergy: 990–999. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1999.97352.x. Retrieved 9 September 2007. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. "WWF - Marine Turtles". Species Factsheets. World Wide Fund for Nature. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
  16. Lynch, S.C. (2003). "The first report of hard-shelled sea turtles (Cheloniidae sensu lato) from the Miocene of California, including a new species (Euclastes hutchisoni) with unusually plesiomorphic characters". PaleoBios. 23 (3): 21–35. {{cite journal}}: External link in |title= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  17. James F. Parham; Nicholas D. Pyenson (2010). "New Sea Turtle from the Miocene of Peru and the Iterative Evolution of Feeding Ecomorphologies since the Cretaceous". Journal of Paleontology. 84 (2): 231–247. doi:10.1666/09-077R.1. {{cite journal}}: External link in |title= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

Categories: