The green sea turtle is named not for its shell but for the greenish fat beneath it, a color that comes from its diet. Adults are among the few large animals that graze seagrass meadows, and by keeping those meadows cropped and healthy they support fish nurseries and lock carbon into the seabed. A single female may swim more than a thousand miles between the waters where she feeds and the beach where she nests, often the beach where she hatched.
The IUCN Red List classifies the green sea turtle as Endangered. Hunting of adults and eggs, entanglement in fishing gear, coastal development that lights and erodes nesting beaches, and warming sand that skews the sex ratio of hatchlings all weigh on the species. Decades of beach protection, in places such as Tortuguero in Costa Rica, have helped some populations recover.
The green sea turtle is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, though some populations face even greater pressure and are considered Critically Endangered at the regional level. Major nesting sites at Tortuguero in Costa Rica and Raine Island in Australia support tens of thousands of females each season, yet the global population trend remains a serious concern.
Adult green sea turtles are primarily herbivores, grazing on seagrasses and algae in shallow coastal waters. Juveniles are more omnivorous, also eating jellyfish, invertebrates, and small prey before shifting to a plant-based diet as they mature. Seagrass beds in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific are critical feeding habitats.
Tiger sharks are the primary natural predator of adult green sea turtles, while eggs and hatchlings face heavy predation from raccoons, ghost crabs, birds, and large fish. Orca attacks on adults have been documented but are rare. Hatchlings are most vulnerable during the dash from nest to sea.
Green sea turtles live in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide, foraging in shallow seagrass meadows and coral reef habitats and nesting on sandy beaches. Key nesting beaches include Tortuguero in Costa Rica, Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
Green sea turtles are Endangered, according to the IUCN Red List, primarily because of egg harvesting, accidental capture in fishing gear, coastal development that destroys nesting beaches, and vessel strikes. Ingestion of plastic waste and the loss of seagrass habitat to pollution and climate change add further pressure on already slow-reproducing populations.
Adult green sea turtles typically weigh between 150 and 400 pounds (68 to 181 kilograms), with large individuals occasionally exceeding that range. Their size varies by population and foraging habitat, with turtles feeding on nutrient-rich seagrass beds in areas like the Indian Ocean tending to grow especially large.
Largest green turtle rookery in the Western Hemisphere nests on our beach.
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Protected on key nesting beaches through the Billion Baby Turtles program.
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