Kemp's Ridley Turtle

The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) is the smallest and most endangered of all sea turtle species, with adults typically weighing between 79 and 100 pounds and measuring around 24 to 28 inches in length. It inhabits the shallow coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico for most of its life, feeding primarily on swimming crabs, though it also consumes mollusks, fish, and jellyfish. Its foraging behavior helps regulate crab populations in Gulf seagrass beds and nearshore habitats, and unhatched eggs and hatchlings contribute nutrients to the beach dunes where they are laid.

The species is best known for its remarkable nesting behavior called an arribada, in which large groups of females come ashore simultaneously on the same beach to nest, almost exclusively at Rancho Nuevo in Tamaulipas, Mexico. A secondary nesting colony has been established at Padre Island National Seashore in Texas through decades of head-starting and translocation efforts led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA. The primary threats to Kemp's Ridley turtles include incidental capture in shrimp trawl nets, known as bycatch, as well as coastal development that degrades nesting beaches, marine debris ingestion, and the compounding effects of climate change on sand temperatures, which influence hatchling sex ratios.