Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Family: Cheloniidae

Genus: Chelonia

Species: C. mydas

Specimen Description

 

 

 

About the animal

The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is one of the largest and most widespread of all the marine turtles. The oval carapace varies from olive to brown, grey and black with bold streaks and blotches.but the common name, green turtle, is derived from the green colour of the fat and connective tissues of this species. The plastron, or undershell, of the green turtle remains a pale yellow or orange throughout life. Males are generally smaller than females, and the green turtle differs in appearance from other marine turtles by the possession of a single pair of scales in front of the eyes and a serrated bottom jaw. The tiny black hatchlings are only around 5 centimetres long. The green turtle has particularly slow growth rates and appears to take longer to become reproductively mature than any other sea turtle species, with age at sexual maturity ranging from 26 to 40 years. Undertaking tremendous feats of navigation, an adult green turtle will return to the same beach to breed each season. Astonishingly, part of the population in Brazil migrates around 2,250 kilometres across the open ocean to breed on the Ascension Islands.

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