#flatback sea turtle

[daily-turtles]

Today’s turtle is the Australian Flatback Sea Turtle!

[respect-the-locals]

🐢Daily Sea Turtle Fact:🐢

Flatback Sea Turtle: The flatback sea turtle has the smallest range of the seven sea turtles. The species is endemic to the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of the Australian continental shelf and does not travel long distances in the open ocean for migrations like other sea turtles. This turtle gets its common name from the fact that its shell has a flattened or lower dome than the other sea turtles.

[oceanblogger]

Turtle Tuesday | 7 species of sea turtles

There are 7 species of sea turtles and 6 of those species are listed under the Endangered Species Act and for the other, the Flatback, there is an insufficient amount of data to determine their conservation status. However in the early to mid -1990′s it was listed as vulnerable under the IUCN Red List. 

Green Sea Turtle

Range: Central South/West/North Pacific, East Pacific and North Atlantic 

Listing:  Endangered and Threatened

How you can help them: Donate to protect the Hawaiian basking population from anthropogenic stressors

Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Range: Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean (tropical regions) 

Listing: Endangered & Critically Endangered (IUCN)

How you can help them: If you’re in Hawaii report sightings of Hawksbills because their population numbers are in decline and support organizations helping to save the species

Leatherback Sea Turtle

Range: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean and Black Sea

Listing: Endangered

How you can help them: 5 simple steps you can take to help sea turtles

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Range: Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean (temperate and tropical regions)

Listing: Endangered and Threatened

How you can help them: Volunteer [possibly when on vacation or where you live] to monitor and protect sea turtle nests and nesting females

Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

Range: Found primarily in the waters around Mexico (the gulf and the pacific coast)

Listing: Endangered

How you can help them: Support organizations working to save them and follow the 5 steps to help sea turtles

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

Range: Southern Atlantic, Eastern Pacific and Northern Indian Ocean

Listing: Endangered and Threatened 

How you can help them:  Support organizations working to save them and follow the 5 steps to help sea turtles

Flatback Sea Turtle

Range: Eastern Indian Ocean, Southwest Pacific and Western Central Pacific 

Listing: Data Deficient 

UFWS handout on how you can help sea turtles

[the-abyssopelagic]

a flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus)

[trynottodrown]

Flatback Sea Turtle | by OurBreathingPlanet

[fordivers]

The flatback turtle lives in shallow bays, coral reefs, estuaries and lagoons by the northern coast of Australia and Papua New Guinea and although it can enter in Indonesian waters in search of food, nests only in Australia. This turtle has a very varied diet, from seagrass to mollusks, jellyfish, shrimps, fish, soft corals and sea cucumbers. Although it is classified as a vulnerable species it still has enough population to not endanger their existence, with more than 20,000 nesting females registered. Image by Guy Harvey Marazine

[trynottodrown]

Common Name: Australian flatback - named because its shell is very flat. Scientific Name: Natator depressus Description: Head has a single pair of prefrontal scales (scales in front of its eyes). Carapace is bony without ridges and has large, non-overlapping, scutes (scales) present with only 4 lateral scutes. Carapace is oval or round and body is very flat. Flippers have 1 claw. Edge of carapace is folded and covered by thin, non-overlapping waxy scutes. Carapace is olive-grey with pale brown/yellow tones on margins and the flippers creamy white. The scutes of the hatchlings form a unique dark-grey reticulate pattern, and the center of each scute is olive colored. Size: Adults measure up to 3.25 feet in carapace length (99 cm). Weight: Adults weigh an average of 198 pounds (90 kg). Diet: Apparently eats sea cucumbers, jellyfish, mollusks, prawns, bryozoans, other invertebrates and seaweed. Habitat: Prefer turbid inshore waters, bays, coastal coral reef and grassy shallows. Nesting: Nests 4 times per season. Lays an average of 50 eggs at time, but these are comparatively quite large. The eggs incubate for about 55 days. When the hatchlings emerge, they are larger than most species. Range: Very limited. It is found only in the waters around Australia and Papua New Guinea in the Pacific. Status: Australia - Listed as Vulnerable under the Australian Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act. International - Listed as Data Deficient by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Was previously listed as vulnerable. Change in classification does not imply species recovery, it just indicates a lack of recent research into their abundance and distribution.  Threats to Survival: Sea turtles are threatened with capture, harvesting of eggs, destruction of nesting beaches, ocean pollution, oil spills and entanglement in fishing and shrimp nets. Population Estimate*: 20,285 nesting females.