(Photo by Brian Skerry/Info)
The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell, hence the name. Instead, its carapace is covered by skin and oily flesh.The leatherback turtle is a species with a cosmopolitan global range. Of all the extant sea turtle species, it has the widest distribution, reaching as far north as Alaska and Norway and as far south as Cape Agulhas in Africa and the southernmost tip of New Zealand. Adults subsist almost entirely on jellyfish. Due to their obligate feeding nature, leatherbacks help control jellyfish populations. They also feed on other soft-bodied organisms, such as tunicates and cephalopods.