Green sea turtle

Chelonia mydas

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Cheloniidae
Genus: Chelonia
Species: Chelonia mydas

The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is a large, gentle grazer of seagrass and algae, named not for its shell but for the greenish fat beneath it. It has a short, rounded snout and a smooth, olive-brown to dark shell.

Adults can reach over 1 m in shell length and weigh 100-200 kg. Young turtles eat a mixed diet, but adults are almost entirely herbivorous, cropping seagrass meadows like underwater lawnmowers and keeping them healthy. Females return to the beaches where they hatched to nest every few years. The species is listed as Endangered.

Green turtles occur in tropical and subtropical seas worldwide, and the Philippines has important nesting beaches, notably the Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi. They are commonly seen grazing on seagrass beds and resting on Philippine reefs.