Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Name: Loggerhead Sea Turtle (NMFS photo)

(Caretta caretta)

Status: State Threatened (WA, OR), Federal Threatened

Listed: July 28, 1978

Description: Large sea turtle with an oval, reddish-brown carapace

Threats: Habitat loss, commercial fishing nets, human disturbance, pollution

Overview: Loggerhead sea turtles are a pelagic species, which means that they spend the majority of their life in the open ocean. This species is widely distributed throughout the world’s temperate and sub-tropical oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. In the Pacific Ocean, loggerheads can be seen from the coast of Chile north to Alaska. However, southern Japan provides the only known nesting habitat for North Pacific loggerheads. Loggerheads feed on a variety of marine creatures, including sponges, jellyfish, and several molluscan and crustacean species. Their relatively large heads house powerful jaw muscles that allow them to crush the shells of horseshoe crabs, clams, and oysters. Loggerhead nesting habitat is limited to relatively undisturbed beaches with well-drained dunes, clean sand and grassy vegetation. Like many sea turtles, the loggerhead’s nesting grounds have been severely degraded by beachfront development. Coastal development impacts loggerhead populations in two major ways: (1) nesting habitat is degraded and/or eliminated, (2) newly hatched turtles become disoriented by artificial lighting and head landward rather than towards the ocean. Loggerhead populations have also been reduced as a result of local exploitation of their eggs and meat (not such a problem in North America), beach-sand mining, incidental capture in shrimp trawls, and a devastating herpes-like virus called fibropapillomatosis, a condition found mainly among juvenile and sub-adult turtles feeding in polluted near-shore waters. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has directly addressed one of these threats by requiring shrimp boats to install TEDs (Turtle Excluder Devices) in their nets. These devices are pretty effective at preventing all but the largest sea turtles from getting trapped within the nets. To see the recovery plan the NMFS has prepared for the loggerhead turtle, check out their website at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/PR3/recovery.html.

Distribution: The Pacific population of loggerhead turtles is genetically separate from other loggerhead stocks. Their breeding grounds are limited to a few beaches located in Southern Japan, but adults are known to migrate incredible distances in order to feed. One turtle tagged in Japan was found feeding off the coast of Baja, Mexico, a distance of over 7,500 miles (12,000 km). Sightings of loggerheads have been recorded within the waters from Chile all the way north to Alaska.

Last updated October 24, 2001

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